Bayern Munich. PHOTO
BERLIN, March 2 – Bayern Munich suffered a shock 2-1 defeat to Mainz on Wednesday, losing their 100 percent home record this season, as their lead in the Bundesliga was trimmed to five points.
Colombia striker Jhon Cordoba sealed only Mainz’s second win in Munich with the winner on 86 minutes.
Mainz took a shock lead at the Allianz Arena when Spanish winger Jairo fired home in the first-half with the Bayern defence well beaten.
Arjen Robben pulled a goal back for the Bavarians on 64 minutes.
Despite Mainz managing only 22 percent of possession, Cordoba grabbed the winner just before the final whistle and was mobbed by his team-mates.
The result shakes up the Bundesliga ahead of Saturday’s crunch clash when Pep Guardiola’s Bayern play at second-placed Borussia Dortmund.
Dortmund’s 2-0 win at Darmstadt on Wednesday cut Bayern’s lead from eight points as another Colombia striker, Adrian Ramos, and defender Erik Durm netted.
Hertha Berlin cemented third place, but remain 15 points adrift of Dortmund, with a 2-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt in the capital.
Ivory Coast striker Salomon Kalou and Mitchell Weiser grabbed Berlin’s goals to keep Hertha on course for a first return to the Champions League since 2000.
At the other end of the table, Werder Bremen climbed out of the relegation places with a shock 4-1 win at Bayer Leverkusen as veteran Claudio Pizarro claimed a hat-trick.
The 37-year-old Peru international showed why he is the Bundesliga’s top scoring foreigner by needing just under half an hour to wrap up his hat-trick which included a penalty.
Having knocked Leverkusen out of the German Cup in the quarter-finals last month, Bremen again humbled Bayer.
Roger Schmidt’s Leverkusen has now lost four of their last five games in all competitions and drop to seventh in the league.
Elsewhere Schalke climbed to sixth with a 3-2 comeback win at home to Hamburg while Borussia Moenchengladbach remain fourth after their 4-0 thrashing at home to Stuttgart.
Second-from-bottom Hoffenheim boosted their survival chances with a 2-1 win over Augsburg.
On Tuesday, Germany winger Andre Schuerrle claimed the first Bundesliga hat-trick of his career as Wolfsburg routed bottom side Hanover 96 4-0 away.
March 1 is a lucky day for Schuerrle who also scored a hat-trick for ex-club Chelsea against Fulham in the Premier League exactly two years ago.
His performance will boost his standing at Wolfsburg and in this one game he has scored more goals than in his previous 33 matches for the Champions League side.
He needed just 26 minutes to score three goals before Germany team-mate Julian Draxler added Wolfsburg’s fourth at Hanover’s HDI Arena.
The win leaves Wolfsburg eighth while Hanover are bottom, four points from their nearest rival and seven points from safety.
The German FA (DFB) is expected to fine both clubs after one of the flares fired from the away fan block hit the Hanover bench before kick-off, but no-one was hurt.
Elsewhere, French striker Anthony Modeste rescued a point for Cologne in their 1-1 draw at Ingolstadt after forward Lukas Hinterseer had given the hosts the lead.
