Champions League: Bayern Munich held to 1-1 draw at home by Ajax

Noussair Mazraoui cancelled out Mats Hummels’ 4th-minute opener as Bayern Munich were held to a 1-1 draw by a spirited Ajax at the Allianz Arena on Tuesday.

The German champions have now gone three matches without a win following the home draw to Augsburg and a shock 2-0 defeat to Hertha Berlin on Saturday.

Bayern coach Niko Kovac had asked for a reaction from his players following the surprise defeat to Hertha Berlin and he would certainly be proud of the one he got in the opening minutes. Hummels gave his side the lead after some breathtaking play between Frank Ribery and Arjen Robben, with the centre-back heading home Robben’s inswinging cross.

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Robben then had a shot blocked after the Netherlands winger went in one of his trademark runs. But the visitors bounced back with Hakim Ziyech forcing a save from Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer at the 16^th minute. Mazraoui then put his back into the contest against the run of play after a fine one-two with Dusan Tadic to break open the Bayern defence and shoot the ball past Neuer.

No way through. It’s just the one point toward the cause.#UCL #FCBAJA 1-1 pic.twitter.com/Y8LNPdeFL0

— FC Bayern English (@FCBayernEN) October 2, 2018

Unsettled with the sudden equaliser, Bayern lost shape as chances soon started flowing for the Dutch side. But lack of proper effort kept Bayern alive as both sides went into the break tied at 1-1.

Hummels had another chance wasted, while Javi Martinez also missed an opportunity even as Ziyech tested Neuer on point blank range.

Resuming from the break Nicolas Tagliafico once again called Neuer into action as Ajax came inches close to taking the lead at the start of the second half.

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Both chances had their chances to settle the game, but while Thiago hit the upright from inside the box in the 66^th minute, Donny van de Beek missed a sitter 20 minutes later despite finding acres of space in the box.

The best of the lot, however, came to James Rodriguez, who was set up by Serge Gnabry in the 77^th minute. But his slight contact did little harm as Andre Onana cleared without much fuss.

“It wasn’t an easy game today, but we’ve only scored two goals in our last three games, and that is not enough by our standards,” Bayern captain Manuel Neuer was quoted as saying by AFP.

Neuer was left stranded when into the final minute of stoppage time when Lasse Schone stuck the post with a thunderbolt strike and had that gone in, Bayern would have succumbed to their second defeat in as many games.

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“We started well with a lot of momentum, but we let Ajax into the game,” Bayern midfielder Thomas Mueller later said after the match. Our commitment was good, but we were trying to get forward too quickly and kept losing the ball too easily.”

Meanwhile, in the other match of Group E, Benfica returned to winning ways with a 3-2 victory over AEK. They, however, will be worried, as Ruben Dias received marching orders in the final minute of the first half.