The match between Bayern and Hoffenheim had almost everything it needed to be a very interesting one. Off the pitch, Uli Hoeness was expected make his first appearance at the Allianz Arena since he was convicted of tax evasion and probably his last one before serving his three and a half years sentence in the Landsberg prison. For Bayern it would also be the first home match since wrapping up the Bundesliga title and the fans were excited to put on another great show.

On the pitch, it would be interesting to see the unstable Hoffenheim defence face the best attacking team in the league and whether the Sinsheim side would be able to outscore their opponents and grab a few points to improve their mid-table position. Guardiola rested most of what is understood to be Bayern's first team ahead of their Champions League match at Old Trafford on Tuesday while Hoffenheim, on the other hand, fielded their best eleven, including the dangerous forward line consisting of Modeste, Volland, Firmino and Salihovic.

The first minutes gave the impression that Bayern would be able to impose their style, denying Hoffenheim their offensive, reckless attitude. It looked like a Bavarian B-side was enough to do the job against Gisdol's men, but the visitors slowly regained space. Twenty-three minutes into the game, Hoffenheim pulled a dangerous counterattack and Volland found Modeste leaving their own half completely unmarked, providing him with a clear-cut chance that Starke managed to deflect once, but not twice. The French striker shot again and found the back of the net to make it 1-0 for the visitors.

Two minutes later, Thiago suffered a challenge and left the pitch with an injury that would later be found to be a serious ACL rupture that will make the Spanish player unavailable for at least four weeks (according to Guardiola right after the match), which will include the two legs against Manchester United, the Pokal tie against Kaiserslautern and a few Bundesliga matches. Modeste would soon follow Thiago and leave the pitch rubbing his hamstring, but not before Pizarro could make things equal with a deadly header: Shaqiri took a costless kick from the right flank and the Peruvian striker made it 1-1.

Bayern looked very good after their first goal and it felt like they would take back control. In the 34th minute, Pizarro returned the favor and assisted Shaqiri inside the box. The Swiss couldn't waste such a chance and made it 2-1 for the 2013/2014 Bundesliga champions. As Hoffenheim looked more and more like the worst defense in the league, Pizarro found the back of the net again with five minutes to the break, after a great cross from Ribéry. Bayern managed to turn things around in just 9 minutes, but Salihovic gave the visitors a bit of hope as he converted a splendid costless kick from the edge of the box, right before halftime, 3-2.

Lahm took back the captain armband from Schweinsteiger during the break and Mario Mandžukić came on for Götze, but that didn't prevent the quality of the show from decreasing a lot in the second half, with both sides looking very disorganized and wasting a lot of chances. In the 48th minute, Vestergaard saw a yellow for fouling the Croatian striker on the edge of the box, but Schweinsteiger didn't repeat the trick from the Arsenal match and sent it right to the keeper Grahl this time.

In fact, the visitors started looking better and wasted a few good chances before equalizing. Eight minutes after the break, Salihovic took a costless kick and Firmino would've headed it home if it wasn't for a good intervention from Starke. However, the Bavarian keeper wouldn't be able to stop the Brazilian rising star 20 minutes later. In the 75th minute, Firmino tricked Rafinha and Dante and a low shot to the left corner of the Nordkurve goal made it 3-3. One minute later, while two birds fiercely fought to protect what seemed to be their nest near the tunnel, Robben replaced Ribéry.

The uncertainty of the match and the lack of organization from both teams made the last fifteen minutes of play very nervous. With ten minutes to go, Schweinsteiger saw a yellow card for ironically applauding the referee decision to concede Hoffenheim a meaningless costless kick in the middle of the pitch. Both midfields looked particularly weak late in the game, as the match turned into an end-to-end chance-wasting extravaganza. In the 87th minute, Robben had the clearest chance a striker can have without removing the goalkeeper from the scene, but Grahl made a good save and denied the Bavarians what would've been an undeserved win. Three minutes later, Starke did a good job by deflecting a shot from Rudy, and both sides took home a fair single point from their mostly uninspired performances.

Bayern now travel to Manchester to face United on Tuesday night for the Champions League and Hoffenheim take the week to get ready for their away match against Hertha Berlin next weekend.

Line-ups:

Bayern: Starke, Rafinha, Van Buyten, Dante, Contento, Schweinsteiger (C), Thiago (Lahm 25'), Shaqiri, Götze (Mandžukić 46'), Ribéry (Robben 76'), Pizarro

Hoffenheim: Grahl, Johnson, Strobl, Vestergaard, Beck (C), Rudy, Polanski, Salihovic (Herdling 60'), Volland (Karaman 89'), Firmino, Modeste (Elyounoussi 32')

Referee: Christian Dingert