In an intensely controversial ending, Mainz 05 scored at the last gasp to pull out a 1-1 draw with Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund at Westfalenstadion. With the result, the Dortmunders maintain a ten-point advantage over second-place Bayer 04 Leverkusen, whilst Mainz 05 pushes two points above Nürnberg for the all-important fifth spot.

Coming off their disappointing loss to 1899 Hoffenheim, BVB manager Jürgen Klopp summoned the mercurial Jakub Błaszczykowski in for Robert Lewandowski in what proved to be a tactical gem of adjustments from both managers.

After a heart-pounding opening that both sides showed intent, BVB charged in front at the eight minute as Nuri Şahin free kick into the Mainz box was headed on by Mats Hummels to which the visiting goalkeeper Christian Wetklo misplayed the ball and saw it cross the line. Eight minutes later, Lucas Barrios was brought down in the area by the ‘keeper, with match day referee Dr. Felix Brych giving BVB a chance from the spot. In the ensuing effort, the ‘keeper made a brilliant stop of Nuri Şahin to maintain the one goal deficit. The stop seemed to energize the visitors, who thereafter were the better of the two but were unable to break through and went to the break down by one.

After the break, BVB charged forward with Polish international Jakub Błaszczykowski sending a blistering effort over the bar from inside the area before the momentum shifted back into the visitor’s favour however it was much ado of nothing as most chances were of the low probability kind. Shy of the hour, Mainz looked to have levelled but Karim Allagui’s close range effort was chalked off as offside. With fourteen minutes remaining in regulation, FSV manager Thomas Tuchel added Marcel Risse with Petar Slišković and Florian Heller to soon follow. BVB looked to have closed out the visitor’s chances before the shocking end at the eighty-ninth minute with Neven Subotić going down to injury and Mainz continued to play on. Marcel Risse surging down the right before delivering a cross into the box that Petar Slišković right footed into the net from eight metres for the shocking conclusion.

Prepared by John Davies
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John Davies is available on his personal page on Facebook , Renegade Training™’s, as well as or Twitter.

In addition to Europa League News, John Davies writes on the “Beautiful Game” for Russian media giant Sport-Express. (Спорт-Экспресс) as well as Spartak Moscow.

Relegation threatened Freiburg lodged an important 1-0 victory over Mainz at the Badenova-Stadion. With the result, Robin Dutt’s side pull level in points with Hannover 96 in the final spot in the relegation zone, whilst Mainz sit at the ninth spot.

In a rematch of the top two sides of the Bundesliga second division last year, the hosts grabbed the 1-0 lead ten minutes into the day, as Johannes Flum accepted Papiss Cissé’s provision from the right and powered his effort from twenty-two metres into the net past ‘keeper Heinz Müller. Both sides maintained a well disciplined tactical stance and for much of the remaining half, the match was a box-to-box affair.

After the restart, chance were at a premium with Mainz’s best chance coming with just over twenty minutes remaining in regulation when Malik Fathi, on-loan from Spartak Moskva, sent a close range header over the crossbar. The visitors continued to probe for the equalizer and though the hosts missed a fine chance to build on the lead, Freiburg claimed the 1-0 victory.

Mainz returns to play next Saturday as they visit Nürnberg, whilst Freiburg travels to Sinsheim to face 1899 Hoffenheim.

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Mainz continued its impressive play since winning promotion to the top flight of German football with a 1-0 win over Köln before their supporters at Stadion am Bruchweg. With the win, Thomas Tuchel’s side are in the hunt for a berth in the Europa League at seventh in the Bundesliga table, whilst Köln, at thirteenth, face a relegation battle after both Hannover and Nürnberg claimed victory on Saturday.

The opening stretches of the match were reasonably cautious, as neither side were willing to expose themselves at the back. Mainz were faced with playing the match a man down three minutes shy of the hour when Aristide Bance was shown a straight red-card for violent conduct aimed at Köln defender Geromel. Despite the man advantage, Köln were showing little attacking venom with nary a scoring chance to note prior the break.

After the re-start, little had changed until four minutes shy of the hour when nineteen year-old Andre Schürrle accepted Chali Amri provision and pounded the ball into the net. Die Geißböcke manager Zvonimir Soldo summoned Serbian virtuoso Zoran Tošić into the match within five minutes as Köln went in the hunt for the equalizer. However, chances by Lukas Podolski and Milivoje Novakovič in the final quarter-hour came up empty as Mainz claimed the full three points with a 1-0 victory.

Mainz returns to play on Saturday as they travel to face Freiburg at the Badenova-Stadion, whilst Köln welcomes Borussia Mönchengladbach to the RheinEnergieStadion in a Friday evening clash.

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Mainz continued its impressive play since winning promotion as they edged 1899 Hoffenheim at the Rhein-Neckar-Arena. With the result, Mainz climbs to ninth in the Bundesliga table, whilst 1899 drift to the eleventh spot.

Despite what the score suggests, the match was a fast paced affair with both sides unable to convert on a number of high quality chances. After 1899 posed a number of attacking threats, the momentum slowly shifted towards Mainz. However, with twenty-one minutes remaining Mainz scored the matches lone goal as a long clearance counter, dissected the 1899 defenders before Aristide Bancé got on the end of it and fired the ball into the net from well outside the area. Though 1899 looked for the leveller, they were unable to do so and the match ended 1-0 , in favour of Mainz.

Mainz returns to play on Saturday as they welcome Köln, whilst 1899 Hoffenheim sees Werder Bremen visit Rhein-Neckar-Arena the following day.

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After controlling much of the early going, Bayern München stormed past Mainz 3-0 at a snow crested Allianz Arena. With the victory, Bayern climb back to the top of the Bundesliga table, one point above Bayer 04 Leverkusen who play on Sunday, whilst Mainz continue to impress at the eighth spot.

Bayern took charge of the proceedings from the start but with each turn of the screw Mainz ‘keeper Heinz Müller was up to challenge. The Mainz goalkeeper was under siege with fine quality opportunities handed to Mario Gómez and Ivica Olić coming up empty as Bayern tore apart Mainz with assaults down the right flank. After sustaining a number of tense situations, the visitors situation turned bleak as just past the half-hour mark, Niko Bungert was adjudged a penalty for bringing Thomas Müller down in the area and the spot was pointed to. Up trotted Bayern ‘keeper Hans-Jörg Butt for the ensuing effort but his far-too coy effort down the centre of the goal was stopped by Heinz Müller with ease. After the chance from the spot, the match slowed through the break with neither side able to muster the needed touch.

The second half started at a modest clip as Mainz had made the appropriate tactical adjustments to slow Bayern’s advances. Amongst the backdrop of a winter playground of snowfall, the deadlock was broken two minutes shy of the hour as Daniel van Buyten headed Arjen Robben’s floating cross from the left into the box into the net. Bayern continued to press but fortune did not seem to be in the hosts favour as chances continuously fell a whisper off line. At the seventy-sixth minute, Arjen Robben pushed the ball off to Philipp Lahm who from the right by-line laid it back to Mario Gómez and the former Stuttgart sharpshooter gave his side the comfortable two-goal advantage from ten metres out. With Bayern’s supporters in full song and the matches outcome no longer in question, Arjen Robben sent a superb free kick into the net from twenty-five metres at the eighty-sixth minute for the 3-0 lead.

Both sides return to play next Saturday as Mainz welcomes Borussia Mönchengladbach to Stadion am Bruchweg, whilst Bayern München face the troubling defending champions, VfL Wolfsburg at Volkswagen Arena.

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Returning from the winter break after being crowned “Herbstmeister” (winners of the first half of domestic campaign), Bayer 04 Leverkusen opened its Rückrunde efforts with a spirited 4-2 victory over Mainz. The result edges Werkself back to the top of the Bundesliga, two points above Bayern München, who beat 1899 Hoffenheim on Friday evening, whilst Mainz linger at the tenth spot.

The visitors surprisingly grabbed eight minutes after the opening whistle as Austrian international Andreas Ivanschitz sent a free-kick that forced Leverkusen ‘keeper René Adler into action as he pawed the ball away, but as it rebounded off the post Tim Hoogland sent it in from a few metres out range. The celebrations were short-lived from Mainz and on the quarter-hour, the match was even as the highly promising Toni Kroos swung in perfectly placed corner that Michal Kadlec, shook off his mark to head-in at the near post. Ravenous to maintain their unbeaten record, Werkself poured forward and went out in front 2-1 four minutes later. In a precise assault, Arturo Vidal and Stefan Kießling linked up, with the latter navigating on the end of a long ball down the right channel before providing the ball to Tranquillo Barnetta for a textbook finish past Mainz goalkeeper Heinz Müller. On the half-hour mark, Tranquillo Barnetta’s cross into the box bounded high with Toni Kroos opportunistically volleying it in from twelve metres to give Bayer Leverkusen the 3-1 advantage.

To their credit, Mainz did not quiver from the challenge and after the break went on the attack. Following a narrow miss by Andreas Ivanschitz, Niko Bungert brought them within one at the sixty-seventh minute as he chested down a cross from the right, turned and sent it past René Adler, off the right post from ten metres out. Looking for reinforcements, Leverkusen summoned Simon Rolfes and Renato Augusto into the match with a quarter-hour but still the visitors proved to be a gamey lot. After dodging a possible equalizer, Leverkusen completed the scoring as Renato Augusto drew the ball back from the right by-line to Eren Derdiyok, with the Basel native driving the ball in near the spot to bring the match to its final 4-2 score.

Prepared by J. Davies
©Europa League News, 2010.
All rights reserved