A PENALTY from Harry Kane, three minutes from time, gave Bayern Munich a 2-2 draw with bottom-of-the-table Mainz at the Allianz Arena. Bayern’s 17-year-old midfield prodigy, Lennart Karl, opened the scoring in the 29th minute but Mainz scored in first half added time to go in at the interval all-square. Lee Jae-Sung put Mainz ahead midway through the second period but Kane came to the rescue after he had been brought down in the area seconds earlier. Bayern may have dropped two points, but they remain nine points clear of RB Leipzig who were surprisingly beaten 3-1 at Union Berlin. Scottish international Oliver Burke gave Union a 57th minute lead, but Tidiam Gomis levelled three minutes later. Then in the 63rd minute Ilyas Ansah headed Union back in front and finally, Tim Skarke sealed the win in added time for the home side. Borussia Dortmund are level on points with Leipzig after their 1-1 draw at Freiburg, a game which saw BVB’s Jobe Bellingham red-carded. Stuttgart pulled of an emphatic 4-0 win at Bremen, with Deniz Undav on the scoresheet with one of the four finely executed goals. Bremen lost Karim Coulibaly to a red card. There were also wins for Leverkusen, St. Pauli, Frankfurt, Wolfsburg and Hoffenheim.
**Eredivisie: Relief for Ajax**
AJAX continued their improvement with a 2-0 win over old rivals Feyenoord in the latest De Klassieker. They clinched victory with two spectacular goals, the first from Davy Klaassen after 12 minutes and then in the 94thminute, an excellent finish from Jorthy Mokio. It was Ajax’s third successive win and Feyenoord’s third defeat in five. PSV still lead the Eredivisie by nine points after their 4-3 win against Heracles. In a game of three penalties, PSV went 2-0 ahead but allowed Heracles to draw level midway through the second half. PSV’s Joey Veerman restored their lead before Jizz Hornkamp, with his second goal of the game, made it 3-3. The winner came from Guus Til in the 81st minute.
**Premier League: Villa emerge as contenders**
ARSENAL pulled off a last-gasp victory against struggling Wolverhampton Wanderers thanks to an own goal from Yerson Mosquera. The Gunners had taken the lead in the 70th minute with another own goal, by goalkeeper Sam Johnstone, but Wolves stunned the Emirates with an equaliser from Tolu Arokodare. Arsenal are two points ahead of Manchester City, who beat Crystal Palace 3-0 at Selhurst Park, two of the goals coming from Erling Haaland. Aston Villa were two-one down at the London stadium but came back to beat West Ham united 3-2 with two goals from Morgan Rogers. Villa have now won 10 of their last 11 league games and are looking very good. Liverpool recalled Mo Salah to their squad but the key man against Brighton was Hugo Ekitike, who scored both goals in a 2-0 win. Salah came on as substitute and appeared to be waving goodbye to the Anfield crowd. Salah is off to Morocco for the Africa Cup of Nations with Egypt. Tottenham’s season continues to exasperate their fans – they were beaten 3-0 at Forest, while Chelsea bounced back from their European defeat with a 2-0 win against Everton. Manchester United and Bournemouth shared eight goals at Old Trafford in a haphazard match on Monday night. In the North-East derby, Sunderland beat Newcastle United 1-0.
**Scotland: Celtic malaise continues**
IT WAS a bad weekend for Celtic; they were beaten 3-1 by St. Mirren in the Scottish League Cup final at Hampden Park in front of almost 50,000. St. Mirren took a second minute lead through Marcus Fraser but Reo Hatate levelled on 23 minutes. The cup was won by two second half goals from Jonah Ayunga. It has now been a good start for new manager Wilfried Nancy, who has lost all three games since he took charge. While Celtic lost the chance of silverware, Hearts extended their lead at the top of the Premiership to six points with a 2-0 win against Falkirk. Rangers were 1-0 winners against Hibernian and Aberdeen beat Kilmarnock 2-1.
**Serie A: The lead changes again**
INTER MILAN went back to the top after their 2-1 win in Genoa, the goals coming from Lautaro Martínez and Yann Bisseck. AC Milan continued their indifferent form against teams from outside the upper quartile with a 2-2 draw with Sassuolo at San Siro. They were grateful for two goals from Davide Bartesaghi. Napoli, who are looking a little jaded these days, lost 2-1 at Udinese. Napoli have a plethora of injuries at the moment and have had to play some players despite a lack of fitness. Roma won 1-0 against Como with Wesley Franca scoring the vital goal. Juventus are sniffing around at the top after winning 1-0 at Bologna, but they are making headlines off the pitch. The Agnelli family have recently rejected a bid from crypto group Tether totalling € 1.1 billion.
**Hat-trick hero: Vangelis Pavlidis**
VANGELIS Pavlidis of Benfica netted a 34-minute hat-trick as his team beat Moreirense 4-0. He scored in the 36th, 57th and 70th minutes. The 27-year-old Greek striker has scored 13 league goals this season (19 in all) and is the top scorer in the Portuguese Primeira Liga. He has scored 49 goals in 85 games since joining the Super Eagles in 2024 from AZ for € 18 million. Benfica are in third place in the table, eight points behind leaders Porto, but they are still unbeaten. Vangelis is a player in demand at the moment with clubs like Barcelona, Chelsea, Atlético Madrid and Newcastle United tracking his progress. He is currently under contract until June 30, 2029 and is valued at between € 54 and € 63 million by CIES Football Observatory.
**And elsewhere …**
**Spain:** Barcelona beat Osasuna 2-0 to remain four points ahead of Real Madrid, who were 2-1 winners at Alavés.
**France:** The title race is getting interesting with Lens, who won 2-0 against Nice, one point ahead of PSG, who won 3-2 at Metz. Marseille and Lille are close behind the top two.
**Switzerland:** In the top-of-the-table clash, St. Gallen won 2-0 at Thun, who are still three points clear of their rivals.
**Attendances**
1. 75,000: Bayern Munich v Mainz
2. 73,446: AC Milan v Sassuolo
3. 64,509: Marseille v Monaco
4. 62,447: West Ham v Aston Villa
5. 60,429: Liverpool v Brighton
6. 60,242: Arsenal v Wolves.
Game of the People was founded in 2012 and is ranked among the 100 best football websites by various sources. The site consistently wins awards for its work, across a broad range of subjects. [View all posts by Neil Fredrik Jensen](https://gameofthepeople.com/author/georgefjord/)