AFP, Berlin :
Bayern Munich cut Borussia Dortmund’s lead at the top of the Bundesliga to just two points on Saturday with a 2-1 victory at Mainz, thanks to Thiago Alcantara’s winning goal.
While goals by Leon Goretzka and Thiago sealed the three points for Bayern, Dortmund only had themselves to blame for conceding a 91st-minute penalty which Salomon Kalou converted in their 2-2 draw at home to Hertha Berlin.
England youngster Jadon Sancho scored twice and could have finished with four goals in an outstanding display for Dortmund, only for Kalou to snatch a point by converting the late penalty after his first-half strike.
Dortmund’s next home league match – against Bayern in a fortnight – is shaping up to be a top-of-the-table clash.
Bayern have climbed from sixth to fourth and now to second over the last seven days, claiming three straight wins in the process, after ending a four-match winless streak.
“We certainly had to work hard for that and it certainly wasn’t as brilliant as we had hoped,” admitted Bayern head coach Niko Kovac.
“We’re happy to have won our three games in a row, I think victory here was deserved and we hope this run continues.”
It was all one-way traffic in the first half as Bayern dominated Mainz with Joshua Kimmich hitting the woodwork on 27 minutes and Thiago having an effort disallowed for offside.
But the Mainz defence yielded when Goretzka volleyed home six minutes before half-time.
Just as it looked like Bayern were going to pull away, Mainz equalised as a result of sloppy defending. Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer was furious after Serge Gnabry failed to stop a cross by Daniel Brosinski and Jean-Paul Boetius stole a yard on Kimmich to tap home on 48 minutes.
But having earlier been denied, Thiago slid in to turn home Robert Lewandowski’s low cross with 28 minutes to go. Werder Bremen can retake second spot from Bayern if they beat Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday.
In Dortmund, Sancho provided the hosts’ goals after also seeing an audacious backheel chip ruled out for offside and a shot cleared off the line.
Sancho finally got on the scoresheet by firing home from a tight angle after a great pass by Mario Goetze on 27 minutes.
However, Hertha showed how dangerous they are on the counter-attack by equalising four minutes before the break when defender Maximilian Mittelstaedt, 21, sent Kalou away to bundle the ball past Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Buerki.
Sancho claimed his second goal on 61 minutes after Dortmund captain Marco Reus did the hard work.
Left-back Achraf Hakimi, on loan from Real Madrid, threaded a pass into Reus, who flicked it past a defender to Sancho, unmarked at the back post, to tap home.
Dortmund were punished for living dangerously late on with Kalou again going close before converting the spot-kick after Davie Selke was brought down in the box.
Hoffenheim romped to a 4-0 home win against 10-man Stuttgart, who had defender Emiliano Insua sent off after just eight minutes for a dangerous foul on Pavel Kaderabek.
Stuttgart held their shape in Sinsheim until their defence disintegrated with four goals in 12 second-half minutes.
English teenager Reiss Nelson had a shot saved, but Dutch midfielder Joshua Brenet fired home the rebound on 48 minutes. Brazilian striker Joelinton also netted before Algeria’s Ishak Belfodil scored twice in three minutes to make it 4-0 on the hour.
Having also been hammered 4-0 by Dortmund last weekend, this was Stuttgart’s second heavy defeat in seven days and left them joint-bottom with Fortuna Duesseldorf.
Elsewhere, Wolfsburg ended a seven-game winless run with a 3-0 romp at Duesseldorf with Wout Weghorst converting a first-half penalty before Josip Brekalo and Daniel Ginczek added second-half goals.
