Late goals from Claudio Pizarro and Mario Mandzukic rescued lacklustre Bayern Munich who beat Eintracht Braunschweig 2-0 yesterday to bounce back from two straight league defeats ahead of this week’s Champions League semi-final at Real Madrid.

The 35-year-old Peruvian was picked to start ahead of Bayern top scorer Mandzukic and the choice proved key as the Bavarians’ slump in form showed for much of the game.

Bayern, who secured the league title weeks ago and had won none of their last three league games prior to yesterday’s match, were missing several players including keeper Manuel Neuer and defender David Alaba.

Despite enough big-name players in the squad, however, they struggled against the aggressive hosts, out for any points to avoid relegation.

Braunschweig, missing Karim Bellarabi and Marcel Correia who were suspended by coach Torsten Lieberknecht after oversleeping and missing a team meeting, were far livelier despite the absence of injured top striker Domi Kumbela.

It took Bayern more than an hour to settle in and Pizarro drilled home from a tight angle after a pass by Mario Goetze. Substitute Mandzukic settled any nerves in the 86th minute.

Borussia Dortmund tightened their grip on second place, opening a six-point lead over third-placed Schalke 04, who take on Stuttgart this afternoon, with a 4-2 victory over Mainz.

Dortmund, who hit the woodwork through Marco Reus in the third minute, did better two minutes later with Milos Jojic’s deflected shot.

Twice Mainz recovered with goals from Japan international Shinji Okazaki but twice the hosts hit back almost instantly with Robert Lewandowski’s 18th goal of the campaign and another from full-back Lukasz Piszczek.

Lewandowski, in his penultimate home game for Dortmund before joining Bayern next season, then forced Niko Bungert to use his hands to stop the ball in the box.

Bungert was sent off and Reus, who twice hit the woodwork in the game, converted the spot-kick to clinch their fourth consecutive league win.

Results

Augsburg vs Hertha Berlin - 0-0
B. Dortmund vs Mainz - 4-2
Braunschweig vs B. Munich - 0-2
Freiburg vs B. M’gladbach - 4-2
Hamburg vs Wolfsburg - 1-3
W. Bremen vs Hoffenheim - 3-1

  P W D L F A Pts
B. Munich 31 26 3 2 84 20 81
B. Dortmund 31 20 4 7 71 34 64
Schalke 04 30 17 7 6 56 38 58
Wolfsburg 31 16 5 10 56 46 53
B. Leverkusen 30 16 3 11 50 37 51
B. Mgladbach 31 14 7 10 54 39 49
Mainz 31 14 5 12 46 49 47
Augsburg 31 12 7 12 41 45 43
Hoffenheim 31 10 10 11 67 66 40
H. Berlin 31 10 8 13 38 42 38
W. Bremen 31 9 9 13 37 59 36
E. Frankfurt 31 9 8 14 39 53 35
Freiburg 31 9 8 14 38 54 35
Hanover 31 10 5 16 41 57 35
Stuttgart 30 7 7 16 45 58 28
Hamburg 31 7 6 18 47 65 27
Nuremberg 30 5 11 14 35 58 26
Braunschweig 31 6 7 18 28 54 25

Playing today
Nuremberg vs B. Leverkusen - 15.30
Stuttgart vs Schalke - 17.30

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