Bayern cruise at bottom side Darmstadt, Mainz climb out of drop zone

Bayern Munich kept alive their faint hopes of retaining the Bundesliga title by coming from behind to win 5-2 at bottom side Darmstadt on Saturday, a day before Bayer Leverkusen can restore their 10-point lead with eight games to play.

Unbeaten Leverkusen visit Freiburg on Sunday but Bayern at least put a bit of pressure on thanks to Jamal Musiala's double and goals from Harry Kane, Serge Gnabry and Mathys Tel as the Bavarians refused to give up on a 12th straight championship.

"We stayed at it with our style of play and didn't change when we went behind," captain Manuel Neuer told Sky. "Jamal is hard to stop, simply put."

Darmstadt, who took the lead through Tim Skarke and netted late on thanks to Oscar Vilhelmsson, are 12 points from fourth-bottom and absolute safety, a spot still occupied by Bochum after they lost 2-0 in the big relegation clash at Mainz.

Jonathan Burkardt netted a controversial penalty and a second to lift Mainz up to the relegation play-off spot and dump Cologne into the automatic relegation places with Darmstadt. Bochum still have a six points more than Mainz.

"Personally it's a great feeling, two goals doesn't happen every day," Burkardt said. "After such a big battle we managed to prevail."

Belgian Yorbe Vertessen's contested first Bundesliga goal and Brenden Aaronson's strike soon after gave Union Berlin a 2-1 win over Werder Bremen at the Alten Försterei as they went three points above Bochum.

The Berliners are also now three points ahead of Wolfsburg, who were unlucky when they failed to win for an 11th successive league game, leaving coach Niko Kovac under even more pressure.

The Wolves grabbed the first goal of the day through Patrick Wimmer but lost 3-1 at home to Augsburg after Wimmer was harshly sent off and Arne Maier scored from the resulting free-kick via a deflection.

Kristijan Jakić's brace completed the turnaround for comeback kings Augsburg, who have now won four in a row and sit seventh, dreaming of Europe, having looked relegation candidates for so long.

Borussia Mönchengladbach, beaten in the German Cup last-eight at third-tier Saarbrücken in midweek, drew 1-1 at mid-table Heidenheim.

In the late south-west derby game, third-placed VfB Stuttgart turned on the swagger to win 3-0 at coach Sebastian Hoeneß' former club Hoffenheim, now bossed by ex-Stuttgart coach Pellegrino Materazzo.

Enzo Millot, Serhou Guirassy and Jamie Leweling scored top team goals for Stuttgart, who were almost relegated last term but are now close to a Champions League spot with a seven-point cushion to RB Leipzig.

On Friday, Leipzig thumped Cologne 5-1 to move fourth pending Borussia Dortmund's game at home to Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday.

Bayern started well in Darmstadt but conceded for a ninth straight Bundesliga game when Eric Dier's header only reached Austrian Mathias Honsak, who burst into the box and set up Skarke on 28 minutes.

But whatever Honsak could do, Aleksandar Pavlović could do too.

The 19-year-old Bayern midfielder celebrated his first call-up to the Germany squad by also powering into the area and cutting back for Kane, whose unsure touch allowed Musiala to fire home.

Soon after Kane had his 31st goal of his debut Bundesliga campaign as he chases Robert Lewandowski's record of 41 in a single season.

The England captain headed in Joshua Kimmich's cross on half-time.

Pavlović went off after a clash of heads but Bayern carried on where they left off with a special Musiala goal on 64.

He twisted and turned his way through the defence before scoring.

Substitutes Gnabry and Tel increased Bayern's lead but there was another worry for the Bavarians when Kane collided with the post and was substituted with a twisted ankle.