Bayern Munich fought back from three goals down to clinch a 4-3 win away to Mainz 05, with substitutes Harry Kane and Michael Olise leading a second-half comeback for the Bundesliga champions. Dominik Kohr, Paul Nebel and Sheraldo Becker scored for Mainz in the first half while Bayern, who had made eight changes to the starting lineup that beat Bayer Leverkusen in Wednesday’s German Cup semi-final, had no shots on target until the break.
The Bayern coach, Vincent Kompany, brought on Kane and Olise after the break and their renewed aggression paid off with Nicolas Jackson scoring in the 53rd minute and Olise finding the net 20 minutes later.
Jamal Musiala got the equaliser for Bayern in the 80th minute, and three minutes later Kane sealed his team’s ninth straight win in all competitions, and took his Bundesliga goal tally for the season to 33.
Bayern’s Champions League semi-final opponents Paris Saint-Germain took another stride towards the Ligue 1 crown, winning 3-0 at Angers to open up a six-point lead over Lens at the top of the table. Lee Kang-in and Senny Mayulu struck first-half goals, with Lucas Beraldo finding a third shortly after the break to keep PSG on course for a 12th French title in 14 years.
It was a largely ideal afternoon for PSG ahead of Bayern’s visit on Tuesday, although Achraf Hakimi is an injury concern after he came off at half-time. PSG also finished the game with 10 men as Gonçalo Ramos saw red on 74 minutes after receiving a second yellow card.
Lyon held off lowly Auxerre 3-2 in Ligue 1 earlier in the day to keep their Champions League ambitions on track. A Roman Yaremchuk double, either side of a Corentin Tolisso goal, was enough to move Lyon to 57 points and open up a three point gap to fourth-placed Lille, who travel to Paris FC tomorrow.
Now a further four points behind Lille are Monaco, who squandered a two goal lead at Toulouse to draw the late game 2-2. Monaco were 2-0 up inside 20 minutes, but gave up goals on the hour and in the 90th minute to put themselves at a serious disadvantage in Ligue 1’s race for Europe.
Barcelona continued their march towards the La Liga title with a 2-0 victory at Getafe as goals from Fermín López and Marcus Rashford secured a ninth consecutive league win.
The result moved Barcelona to 85 points, 11 ahead of second-placed Real Madrid with five games left, after Real’s 1-1 draw at Real Betis on Friday.
The breakthrough arrived for Barcelona just before the interval as López latched on to a Pedri through ball, before charging into the area to steer a clinical finish into the bottom corner.
Barcelona made sure of the points in the 74th minute after a clinical counterattack initiated from a Getafe throw-in deep in the Barcelona half. Rashford collected the ball on the halfway line and drove forward largely unchallenged before dispatching a composed, low strike from the edge of the penalty area.
Atlético Madrid first staged a comeback then survived one to beat Athletic Club 3-2. Aitor Paredes gave the Basques the lead in the first half, then early in the second Antoine Griezmann and Alexander Sørloth overturned it. Sørloth thought he’d made the game safe with his second in stoppage time, but Gorka Guruzeta scored in the 97th minute to set up a nervy finish.
Atlético did hold on, strengthening their hold on the final qualification for next year’s Champions League — but they are still in this year’s, and such a tense game was perhaps less than ideal ahead of a semi-final first leg at home to Arsenal.
Verona were denied a win against that would have boosted their slim chances of Serie A survival when VAR ruled out a stoppage-time winner against Lecce. The 0-0 draw moves Lecce out of the relegation zone but only by a point, while Verona remain 10 points off safety.
Earlier, Roma won 2-0 at Bologna with goals from Aston Villa loanee Donyell Malan and Neil El Aynaoui to move within two points of the final Champions League place, currently held by Juventus who travel to AC Milan tomorrow.
