Joshua Kimmich and Lennart Karl send Bayern Munich 2-1 past Mainz before a stoppage-time consolation

Bayern Munich went to the Mewa Arena top of the Bundesliga on 18 points from eight games and left it exactly where they started. A 2-1 win over Mainz, who came in tenth on 10 points, was comfortable for an hour and a half and only briefly interesting at the very end.

Joshua Kimmich put the champions ahead after 14 minutes, finishing from a Harry Kane pass to open the scoring in a game Mainz barely got out of their own half for long stretches. Bayern's front players kept probing the same right-hand side all afternoon, and Mainz's back line kept being dragged out of position by it.

The second goal, early in the second half, came from the same supply line. Kane turned provider again in the 57th minute, picking out Lennart Karl, who finished to make it 2-0 and put the game beyond any real doubt. Two goals created by the same player inside 43 minutes of each other said as much about Bayern's control as the scoreline did — Kane did not need to score himself to be the most dangerous man on the pitch.

Mainz made two changes to their back three for this one and still could not find an answer to the right-hand channel Bayern kept attacking. Manuel Neuer, at the other end, had almost nothing to do for long periods — a measure of how little Mainz were able to create before the final minute of the match.

Mainz's stoppage-time reply

Mainz's best spell of the match arrived only after the result was settled. Having used all five of their substitutes — Phillip Tietz, Eric Martel, Paul Nebel, Rael-Tshimbela Nakuzola and Benedict Hollerbach all came on — the home side finally forced a way through two minutes into stoppage time. Tietz headed in a Hollerbach cross to make it 1-2, the last meaningful action of the game.

A one-sided afternoon in the numbers

The scoreline flattered Mainz more than the underlying numbers did. Bayern had more than two-thirds of the ball and nine shots on target to Mainz's one, and the passing accuracy gap told its own story.

Form pointing in opposite directions

The result continued two very different runs. Mainz had lost four of their previous five Bundesliga matches going into this one — beaten by Bayer Leverkusen and Werder Bremen at home, and by SV Elversberg away, with their only win in that spell a 1-0 trip to Schalke. A 0-2 defeat at VfL Bochum in the DFB-Pokal sat in the same stretch.

Bayern, by contrast, had not lost in any competition in their last five: a draw with Schalke, wins over Werder Bremen's academy side Bodø/Glimt in the Champions League and SV Elversberg in the league, a 7-0 rout of Union Berlin, and a 2-0 win away at Atlético Madrid in Europe only four days before this trip to Mainz. The draw with Borussia Dortmund the previous weekend was the only blemish, and it still left them top on goal difference.

What the result does to the table

Going into this round, Bayern Munich were first with 18 points from eight games, inside the Champions League places and unbeaten all season. Mainz sat 10th on 10 points, in mid-table with little separating them from the pack below. The win keeps Bayern's perfect record alive at the top; Mainz's defeat extends the losing run that has followed their bright start to the campaign, and leaves them needing a response before the gap to the bottom half closes any further.