Bayern Munich have overcome Mainz 05 with a 2-0 away victory in the Bundesliga this afternoon, thanks to second-half goals from Bastian Schweinsteiger and Mario Gotze.
Arjen Robben almost gave Bayern the lead early on as the ball fell to him in space following some poor Mainz defending, but Loris Karius did well to deny the Dutchman.
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Shinji Okazaki was then played in behind the Bayern defence, though the frontman took too long to make a decision, leaving Jerome Boateng time to get back and make the interception.
Okazaki was the danger-man again in the 34th minute when he was picked out by Park Joo-Ho, with the striker chipping the ball over Manuel Neuer only to see it smack the post before the linesman raised his flag for offside.
Toni Kroos almost gave Bayern the lead just before the break, but his curled effort flew just over the crossbar after he was found by Franck Ribery.
Mainz went close to taking the lead straight after half time as Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting beat Philip Lahm before hitting a shot against the underside of the crossbar.
Bayern responded through Mario Mandzukic, whose header drew a standout save from Karius, who flew across his goal to get two strong hands to the ball.
Despite some heroics from Karius, Bayern finally found the net in the 82nd minute through Schweinsteiger, who headed into the net from Xherdan Shaqiri's cross.
Gotze confirmed the three points with four minutes to play as he was given the ball by Ribery, leaving the young midfielder to tap home from close range.
Christopher Dodd
