“We got a proper rollicking at half-time,” Bayern Munich manager Vincent Kompany said, smiling when asked about his half-time team talk in Mainz

"You can have setbacks from time to time, but it always comes down to how you react to them," Goretzka said. The midfielder captained FCB for the first time, yet the newly crowned German champions had a first half to forget.

With one eye on Tuesday’s Champions League semi-final first leg at Paris Saint-Germain, manager Vincent Kompany had made sweeping changes to his line-up. Dayot Upamecano and Joshua Kimmich did not even travel to Mainz, while six other regulars—Michael Olise, Harry Kane, Jamal Musiala, Manuel Neuer, Jonathan Tah and Josip Stanisic—began on the bench as a precaution. One consequence of the heavy rotation was the first-team debut of young midfielder Bara Sapoko Ndiaye, though the 18-year-old struggled on the day.

Mainz, by contrast, stormed into a 3-0 halftime lead through Dominik Kohr (15′), Paul Nebel (29′) and Sheraldo Becker (45+2′).

When asked by Sky about his half-time team talk, Kompany initially replied with a smile and a touch of irony: “There was a lot of praise in it.” The 40-year-old Belgian then explained more seriously: “I’ve experienced moments like that myself during my career, both as captain and as a key player. I’ve been in that dressing room when it’s 3–0 down at the break, and it feels like the game is over. But you have to channel anger, refuse to accept defeat, then go full throttle and keep pressing the opposition until the final minute. That’s exactly what the lads did.”

Such a turnaround, he stressed, is driven “not just by tactics, but by emotion”. Having watched his side struggle in the first half, Kompany introduced Kane and Olise at the break. Nicolas Jackson pulled one back for Munich in the 53rd minute, but Bayern seized control in the final 20. Musiala and Stanisic entered in the 57th minute, adding fresh impetus.

Olise pulled one back in the 73rd minute with a stunning curling shot, before Musiala levelled at 3-3 a few minutes later. Kane then sealed a dramatic Munich victory, slotting the winner to make it 4-3. “In the end, it was actually a bit more exciting than if we’d won the game 3-0,” Goretzka noted, finding a positive in the drama.

From FCB’s perspective, Saturday’s match had no bearing on the league title race; their 35th championship was already in the bag after last weekend’s 4-2 win over VfB Stuttgart. Still, the comeback was vital for Bayern’s confidence heading into Tuesday’s first-leg trip to PSG.

The first semi-final takes place on Tuesday in Paris, with the return leg in Munich eight days later to decide which side reaches the Champions League final. The winner will then face either Arsenal or Atlético Madrid.