Douglas Costa rescues Bayern Munich against bottom club

Douglas Costa's long-range strike rescued Bayern Munich in their 1-0 victory at bottom club Darmstadt on Sunday to reinstate his side as Bundesliga leaders before their showdown with RB Leipzig.

Costa the difference with Leipzig up next

Bayern host second-placed Leipzig at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday in a mouth-watering clash. Both teams are on 36 points, but the Bavarians lead on goal difference.

Costa's ferocious dipping shot from 30 metres out on 71 minutes was the bright highlight of a lacklustre Bayern display as Darmstadt battled their illustrious opponents, running seven kilometres more as a team.

Carlo Ancelotti's Bayern had been temporarily usurped from top spot in Germany for 24 hours by Leipzig's impressive 2-0 win at home to Hertha Berlin on Saturday.

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Neuer: "We are relieved"

However, this was a below-par display from Bayern, especially in the first half, against a limited Darmstadt team who suffered their seventh straight league defeat.

"We are relieved, they were three important points, it would have been hard to have played Leipzig without them," said Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.

"But the way we played - that wasn't FC Bayern."

Bayern skipper Lahm injured in the warm-up

With Jerome Boateng already out after needing a shoulder operation, Bayern's captain Philipp Lahm withdrew just before kick-off after pulling a thigh muscle in the warm-up and was replaced at right-back by Rafinha.

With an eye on Leipzig, Ancelotti rotated with both Germany midfielder Joshua Kimmich and Franck Ribery starting on the bench.

The Italian coach had demanded a performance with "maximum intensity", but Bayern did exactly the opposite, failing to create a clear chance in the opening 25 minutes at the Boellenfalltor stadium.

Without Arjen Robben or Ribery on the flanks, Bayern lacked a creative spark and Costa made little inroads into the Darmstadt defence, until his thunderbolt of a shot settled the result.

Bayern's hot-shot striker Robert Lewandowski was harassed by Darmstadt defenders whenever he got the ball.

Ancelotti resorted to his prefered 4-3-3 formation, even though some of Munich's biggest wins this season have been achieved with a 4-2-3-1 line-up.

Darmstadt's caretaker coach Ramon Berndroth admitted he "idolised Ancelotti as a youngster", but his side showed little respect, created a few half chances and never allowed Munich's stars time on the ball.

Ribery came on for the ineffective Arturo Vidal for the final 20 minutes just before Costa's superb winner.

Thomas Mueller pulled defenders away from the middle and with a clear view of goal, Costa unleashed a fierce shot from well outside the area which dipped inside the top left-hand corner.

Darmstadt's best chance came when midfielder Peter Niemeyer headed straight at Neuer from a free-kick on 77 minutes.

Hummels: Bayern will need to be better against Leipzig

Bayern defender Mats Hummels admitted his side must improve before the Leipzig showdown.

"The respect is huge and it's going to be a demanding test. We will have to put in a top performance, a standard one isn't going to be good enough against a team like that," said the centre-back.