Bayern held at home by Augsburg after late Goetze equaliser

Bayern Munich’s Sandro Wagner in action with Augsburg’s Andreas Luthe. Photo: Reuters

BERLIN: Bayern Munich had to settle for a 1-1 draw against Augsburg in the Bundesliga on Monday after conceding a late equaliser to substitute Felix Goetze, bringing an end to their run of four straight victories at the start the season.

Although Bayern struggled to break down the visitors early on, they looked to have won with Arjen Robben’s goal after the break but goalkeeper Manuel Neuer spilled a corner in the 86th minute and 20-year-old Goetze bundled the ball over the line.

Werder Bremen swept aside Hertha Berlin 3-1 to leapfrog them into second place behind Bayern, who are two points clear on 13 points from five games, thanks to first-half goals by Martin Harnik and Milos Veljkovic and a second-half Max Kruse penalty.

Augsburg showed no respect for the German champions in the early exchanges at the Allianz Arena, pushing forward and putting plenty of pressure on a Bayern defence that had only conceded two goals in their opening four league games.

After a frustrating first half, Bayern broke forward three minutes into the second period and Serge Gnabry squared the ball to Dutchman Robben, who rifled past the despairing dive of goalkeeper Andreas Luthe and defender Jeffrey Gouweleeuw.

Bayern looked set to preserve their perfect start to the season and substitute Franck Ribery even had the ball in the net again in the 84th, but his effort was ruled out because Thomas Mueller was adjudged to have been offside in the build-up.

Gouweleeuw got his revenge two minutes later, reacting first to serve up Neuer’s spilled catch to Goetze, who chested the ball over the line as mid-table Augsburg celebrated becoming the first side to take points off Bayern this season.

Elsewhere, Hoffenheim won 3-1 at Hannover 96 to move up to fifth on seven points, a point behind Borussia Dortmund who play on Wednesday and three points off Hertha in third. Freiburg won 1-0 at home to Schalke 04 who stay bottom without a point.

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