European football: Bayern Munich slip up at Mainz as Leverkusen close gap

Lee Jae-sung scored either side of the break as Mainz stunned Bayern Munich 2-1 on Saturday to end the league leaders’ unbeaten start as their advantage at the top was cut to four points.

Lee struck four minutes before the break, the South Korea international ouncing on a defensive blunder by the lacklustre visitors. The 32-year-old then doubled the hosts’ lead on the hour, turning beautifully in the box to finish a superb attacking move that left the Bayern defence frozen to the spot.

Mainz moved up to sixth after inflicting a first league loss on the Bayern head coach, Vincent Kompany. The Bavarian side, missing eight players to injury including top scorer Harry Kane, pulled back a goal through Leroy Sané in the 87th minute but could not find an equaliser.

The defending champions, Bayer Leverkusen, eased past hosts Augsburg 2-0 to climb into second place. Xabi Alonso’s side struck twice in the first half through Martin Terrier’s stab home and Florian Wirtz’s low drive, to earn their seventh straight victory in all competitions.

Xabi Alonso, the Leverkusen coach, said: “This win is good for us. The next match, that is our only focus. The table in December is not something that is so important. More important is the way we played. For anything else it is still too early.”

Eintracht Frankfurt would trim Bayern’s lead to three points with victory on Sunday at fourth-placed RB Leipzig.

In Serie A, Atalanta set a club record with the leaders’ 10th consecutive league win as they beat Cagliari 1-0 in Sardinia.

With Napoli playing at Udinese later on Saturday, Gian Piero Gasperini’s side were able to open a five-point lead at the top thanks to Nicolò Zaniolo’s winner off the bench. Cagliari were the better side in the first half but the Atalanta keeper Marco Carnesecchi kept the game scoreless with several fine saves.

The visitors improved after the break and broke the deadlock through Zaniolo in the 66th minute, as he turned home Raoul Bellanova’s low cross two minutes after coming on. Ademola Lookman then hit a post after a mazy run and shot, before Carnesecchi produced another late save to secure victory.