MUNICH, Germany (Reuters) – Bayern Munich conceded a stoppage-time penalty equalizer by VfB Stuttgart striker Serhou Guirassy that saw the match end 2-2 on Saturday, the champions’ third consecutive Bundesliga draw.
The champions go top on goal difference with 12 points, ahead of Hoffenheim, 4-1 winners over Mainz 05. Freiburg, also on 12, host Borussia Moenchengladbach on Sunday.
Bayern, who host Barcelona in the Champions League group stage next week, had only themselves to blame for not killing off Stuttgart earlier, leaving coach Julian Nagelsmann to rue their missed opportunities.
“We played well for a 15-minute spell and also initially in the second half and deserved to go in front,” he told a news conference. “But then we were too slow in our game and played on possession.
“We had enough chances to finish off the game. We had enough space to create those chances. But there was not a third goal and then the opponents think maybe they can still get something out of this. They got a deserved penalty and then it it was 2-2.”
Yet it all started so well for Bayern, with forward Mathys Tel scoring their opener in the 36th minute.
France youth international Tel, who at the age of 17 years and 136 days became the youngest player to start a league game for Bayern, had already scored in the German Cup first round.
He made sure of his first Bundesliga goal by drilling in a low drive from Alphonso Davies’ cut-back.
Nagelsmann rotated heavily from Bayern’s 2-0 Champions League win at Inter Milan in midweek, and his team dropped the pace in the second half, giving Stuttgart room to push forward.
The visitors were rewarded when Chris Fuehrich netted the equalizer form close range in the 57th but three minutes later Bayern were back in front through another teenager.
Jamal Musiala, the 19-year-old former youngest league scorer for Bayern, shook off his marker with a quick change of direction and floated a superb ball into the net.
Stuttgart however were not done yet and came agonizingly close in the 74th when Guirassy’s shot from 18 meters bounced off the crossbar with goalkeeper Manuel Neuer beaten.
The Guinea international would get his chance in stoppage time, earning a penalty for a foul by Matthijs de Ligt. He kept his composure to beat Neuer and earn a point for the visitors.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Ken Ferris)
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