Bayern Munich’s floundering Bundesliga title defence was dealt another blow after they were held to a frustrating 2-2 draw at Freiburg following Lucas Holer’s 87th-minute equaliser.
Thomas Tuchel’s men were on course for a much-needed comeback success at Europa-Park Stadion after eye-catching strikes from Mathys Tel and Jamal Musiala overturned Christian Gunter’s early opener.
But, with Harry Kane largely peripheral, Freiburg forward Holer hooked home late on to leave Bayern seven points adrift of leaders Bayer Leverkusen.
Xabi Alonso’s table-toppers can stretch their advantage to 10 points in Sunday’s derby at local rivals Cologne.
Bayern ended a three-match losing run, during which it was announced Tuchel will leave at the end of the season, thanks to Kane’s brace in last weekend’s 2-1 success over RB Leipzig.
The outgoing head coach made two enforced changes from that win as defender Kim Min-jae and 18-year-old forward Tel replaced the suspended Matthijs de Ligt and injured Leroy Sane.
Bayern began slowly and were punished with just 12 minutes on the clock.
Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer initially appeared to have rescued his side by producing a stunning save to repel Roland Sallai’s close-range header before touching the same player’s subsequent overhead kick on to the crossbar.
But the Bavarians failed to fully clear the danger and Gunter, whose season has been severely disrupted by two broken arms, emphatically capitalised by lashing a left-footed drive into the bottom right corner from the edge of the 18-yard area.
With England captain Kane struggling to make an impact, the away side were fortunate not to fall further behind.
Neuer denied Gunter his second from a tight angle before Vincenzo Grifo flashed narrowly wide.
After Thomas Muller and Kane each had penalty appeals waved away, Bayern were rewarded for a period of dominance with a spectacular 35th-minute equaliser.
France Under-21 international Tel did the damage, marking his first Bundesliga start of the season by delightfully curling home from the left corner of Freiburg’s penalty box following a partially-cleared corner.
Bayern could have led at the break as Musiala’s close-range poke was blocked by home keeper Noah Atubolu after Leon Goretzka and Raphael Guerreiro threatened.
Kane dragged a left-footed effort wide early in the second period before later seeing a header cleared off the line after Musiala wasted a golden chance.
Musiala soon made amends with a moment of magic, cutting in from the left and dancing beyond Kiliann Sildillia and Maximilian Eggestein to curl into the far corner.
The fine solo strike looked to be enough for victory but the visitors paid a heavy price for failing to kill off the contest when Holer fired home on the turn following a long throw into the box.
Bayern move on to the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie with Lazio looking to overturn a 1-0 aggregate deficit, while Freiburg prepare to begin their Europa League knockout tie with West Ham.
Sahin enjoying more options as Borussia Dortmund injury list shortens
Borussia Dortmund will have several players back from injury for their Bundesliga game against visitors Freiburg on Saturday, with coach Nuri Sahin relieved to have more options again.
The Ruhr valley club have had as many as 10 players injured at some stage as they have dropped to seventh place in the league, 10 points off leaders Bayern Munich.
But they will now have five players back for their return to action, including goalkeeper Gregor Kobel, as well as Gio Reyna, Julien Duranville, Waldemar Anton and Jamie Gittens.
"After a long time there is more good news than bad news regarding injuries," Sahin told a press conference on Thursday.
"I don't expect Gio and Duranville, for example, to be at 100% but the physios have done a great job.
"So if they are in the squad that means they can play. I'm just happy to be able to take decisions. We can now take some nice decisions."
Until the international break last week, Dortmund, who travel to Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League next week, struggled with injuries and failed to win any of their away matches in the league, losing touch with the leading teams.
Dortmund, who have 16 points from 10 games, will be without injured defender Niklas Sule and suspended captain Emre Can.
"I had said we were running on fumes before the international break because we had to play with the same team," Sahin said.
"I think we played with an almost identical lineup in five consecutive games. I hope that in the coming weeks we will be able to rotate more.
Bayern focusing only on Augsburg amid busy schedule – Kompany
Bayern Munich are only focusing on Friday's Bundesliga game against Augsburg amid a crowded match schedule in the next 11 days, head coach Vincent has said.
The league leaders will be without midfielder Joao Palhinha and forward Mathys Tel, who picked up injuries on international duty with Portugal and France respectively, while goalkeeper Manuel Neuer is nursing a ribcage injury and is racing to be fit.
Bayern have a busy schedule coming up after facing Augsburg, with a Champions League game at home to Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday before the trip to Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga in just over a week.
They cap off their 11-day four-match run with the DFB-Pokal last-16 clash at home to holders Bayer Leverkusen on 3 December.
"We are missing Palhinha and Mathys Tel also got a knock while with the national team," Kompany told a press conference on Thursday. "The one fear we have as coach is for players to leave and come back injured.
"We are playing against Augsburg. It is important that it is only about the next game. We want to deliver the performance as we did before the international break. It is only about Augsburg and only this step is important for me today."
Kompany is in his first season in charge but knows expectations are high, and the team must remain contenders in all three competitions going into the new year.
"We're satisfied with the season we've played so far in all competitions despite the two defeats in the Champions League," said Bayern sports director Max Eberl, referring to their 1-0 defeat away to Aston Villa and 4-1 loss at Barcelona.
"It is a new format and we're still getting to know it," he added, with Bayern down in 17th place in the play-off spots.
"We have PSG which is a special game, Leverkusen in the Cup and Dortmund in the league. We want to start and win every single game. That is our starting point."
Leverkusen won their first domestic double last term but Bayern, desperate to restore their national dominance, are undefeated in the Bundesliga and have quickly carved out a five-point lead at the top over second-placed RB Leipzig.
The Bavarians have 26 points, with Leverkusen, who host Heidenheim on Saturday, nine behind in fourth. Dortmund welcome Freiburg, having dropped to seventh spot on 16 points, while Leipzig travel to Hoffenheim.
Slot deserves praise for modest approach to Liverpool job – Mills
Arne Slot deserves praise for not being "arrogant" with his approach to succeeding Jurgen Klopp as Liverpool boss, according to Danny Mills.
The Dutchman has made a hugely positive start to life at Anfield since replacing long-serving Klopp ahead of the 2024-25 season.
The 28 points Slot has collected is the joint-most of any manager in their opening 11 Premier League games along with Guus Hiddink at Chelsea.
Liverpool's only blemish on an otherwise perfect start to the top-flight campaign was a 1-0 loss to Nottingham Forest in September.
Indeed, only in 2019-20 (31 points) have Liverpool collected more points after 11 games of a Premier League season than their 28 this campaign.
Former Leeds United and Manchester City defender Mills has been particularly impressed by Slot's approach to a new era at Anfield.
"Arne Slot has surprised me," Mills told Stats Perform. "They did have a difficult defeat against Nottingham Forest at home. That was a defeat not many people saw that coming, but the start he's had is unbelievable. It's incredible.
"Training might be slightly different, but the style of play is very similar. The players are comfortable with it. They've been high-energy, closing people down, and playing at 100 miles an hour when they win the ball back.
"It shows managerial intelligence to understand the players' qualities and build on what they had when they were successful. He hasn't overthought it or tinkered too much.
"He hasn’t been arrogant and said, 'I'm going to rip it up and start fresh'. It wasn't broken; it was already successful. He's just added to it."
Liverpool won a first ever Premier League title during Klopp's eight-and-a-half years in charge, as well the Champions League in 2018-19.
Klopp also lifted the FA Cup, two EFL Cups, the UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup, setting a high benchmark to follow.
"Liverpool identified the man they wanted, brought him in, and he's been very clever," Mills added. "He looked at the squad and thought, 'these are good players. I don't need to change too much'.
"That's smart because Liverpool were very successful under Klopp. If you come in and rip up the playbook and it doesn't work, players will question why they're not doing what worked under Klopp."
Liverpool have conceded just six goals in the Premier League this season – four fewer than next-best Nottingham Forest.
They are conceding at a rate of around 0.5 goals per game, compared to around 1.1 in Klopp's final season in charge (41 goals in 38 matches).
"Slot has tweaked things slightly, maybe made them more defensively solid, which they needed to really challenge," Mills said. "Championship-winning or Champions League-winning teams are built on solid defences.
"You don't win without that. He's shored up the defence and allowed the players to continue doing what they were doing before."
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