A bitter defeat away at the league leaders

1. FSV Mainz 05 were unfortunate to miss out on a point away at Bayer 04 Leverkusen on Friday evening. Despite a largely pleasing and courageous performance, the 05ers fell to a 2-1 defeat against the Bundesliga leaders, who are now unbeaten in 33 competitive games. Dominik Kohr immediately cancelled out Granit Xhaka’s early goal for Bayer with a header. FSV even had the best chances to take the lead at the start of the second half, but it was Leverkusen’s Robert Andrich who scored the decisive goal, with the 05ers’ goalkeeper Robin Zentner letting his harmless long-range effort slip through his hands.

Bo Henriksen made one change to his starting eleven in his first away game as Mainz 05 head coach. Captain Silvan Widmer came back into the side in place of the absent Andreas Hanche-Olsen, who suffered a strain in his left thigh in the game against Augsburg. Anthony Caci took the Norwegian’s place in the back three, with Mwene returning to left wing-back, whilst Widmer took up his usual position at right wing-back. Maxim Dal from the U19s and Tim Müller from the U23s were named on the bench for the first time in the Bundesliga. Ludovic Ajorque, Jonny Burkardt and Danny da Costa didn’t travel to Leverkusen with the team due to an infection.

A rapid equaliser and constant pressure from Leverkusen

Henriksen and his team wanted to approach the game away at favourites Leverkusen “courageously, self-confidently and full of dynamism”, but the league leaders struck their first blow with less than three minutes on the clock as they took an early lead. Jae-sung Lee cleared an attempted cross from Alejandro Grimaldo to Xhaka on the left edge of the penalty area, with the Leverkusen midfielder unleashing a first-time effort that went over the somewhat surprised Robin Zentner’s head and nestled in the far-right corner (3’). Nevertheless, the 05ers dealt with this early setback well, remained courageous and got their first good opportunity of the game after six minutes. However, Karim Onisiwo narrowly failed to connect with Brajan Gruda’s ball into the box from the left-hand side. Widmer then broke through on the right-hand side only seconds later from a free kick and he set up Dominik Kohr, who grabbed a rapid equaliser for the 05ers with his header (7’).

The game hardly calmed down following the crazy opening stages as both sides continued to play expansively. The home side saw more of the ball, whilst Bo Henriksen’s team remained alert in defence and counter-attacked quickly every time they won the ball back. Caci had Mainz’s next good chance after a quarter of an hour as he unleashed a fierce strike from 18 yards out. However, Lukas Hradecky was able to gather the ball at the second attempt (15’), whilst Zentner was also able to deal with efforts from former 05er Jonas Hoffmann and Xhaka. The league leaders increased the pressure as they repeatedly got into dangerous areas in and around Mainz’s penalty area with their patient play and incisive short passing game. FSV were only able to relieve the pressure through attacks of their own at rare intervals, with Gruda occasionally creating space on the right-hand side with his technical finesse. FSV failed to create any further clear cut chances from the 20th minute onwards as chances dried up for the visitors in this phase of the game. At the other end of the pitch, FSV constantly had to withstand dangerous attacks up until the half-time break. Leo Barreiro made a crucial clearance following a loose ball from Zentner in his own penalty area, whilst Mainz’s goalkeeper made an important save from a curling effort from Grimaldo shortly afterwards, before tipping the Argentinean’s free kick over the bar. The 05ers were able to resist the league leaders’ constant pressure until the break, with both sides going into the interval level at 1-1 following an entertaining first half. 

FSV have chances, but Bayer retake the lead

Both the hosts, as well as FSV started the second half unchanged, with the visitors once again starting boldly and having the first chance through Phillipp Mwene. However, the Austrian’s header from Onisiwo’s cross from the right-hand side went narrowly wide of the right post (47’). The hosts also got lucky not long later as Tah deflected the ball straight into his goalkeeper’s arms from Barreiro’s low cross following Nadiem Amiri’s free kick. The 05ers were the more positive side in the opening stages of the second half and they also had the best chances to take the lead. Lee missed the clearest of these opportunities as he was unable to find the back of net following Edmond Tapsoba’s misdirected cross-field pass (55’). Mainz had better control of the game out of possession in comparison with the first half, with the hosts getting into dangerous positions much less frequently and Bo Henriksen’s side showing signs of completing the turnaround. 

However, Leverkusen then made it 2-1 at the sold-out BayArena in the 68th minute. A well-struck, but ultimately harmless, central long-range effort from Andrich from around 20 yards unfortunately slipped through Zentner’s hands and Mainz’s goalkeeper was unable to prevent the ball from crossing the line. It was a bitter moment for FSV, who had put in a strong second half performance up until that point. Things didn’t get any better for the 05ers as the recently introduced Jessic Ngankam was shown a straight red card by referee Timo Gerach after VAR intervention following a poor challenge on Xhaka on the touchline (80’). Despite all the setbacks, Henriksen’s side didn’t give up, instead looking for a way forward despite their one-man disadvantage. However, substitute Tom Krauß took too long to shoot following good-work in the build-up from Lee, whilst the South Korean also saw an effort fly over the bar in injury time. The game ended 2-1, with the 05ers remaining on 15 points following 23 games. 

Up against Mönchengladbach on Saturday

Mainz’s next game is against Borussia Mönchengladbach at the MEWA ARENA next Saturday (2nd March, 15:30 CET). Never give up!

BAYER 04 LEVERKUSEN 2-1 1. FSV MAINZ 05 

Leverkusen: Hradecky - Kossounou, Tah, Tapsoba - Frimpong (83’ Tella), Andrich, Xhaka, Grimaldo - Hofmann (56’ Schick), Adli (83’ Hincapie, Wirtz (90’ Hlozek) - (Head coach: Xabi Alonso)

Mainz 05: Zentner - Kohr, van den Berg, Caci - Widmer (59’ Guilavogui), Barreiro, Amiri, Mwene - Gruda (65’ Ngankam), Onisiwo (83’ Krauß), Lee - (Head coach: Bo Henriksen)

Goals: 1-0 Xhaka (3’), 1-1 Kohr (7’), 2-1 Andrich (68’)

Attendance: 30,210 (sold out)

Officials: Timo Gerach (Assistants: Florian Heft, Robert Wessel / Fourth official: Thomas Stein / VAR: Felix Zwayer, Thorsten Schiffner)

Notable incidents: Red card for Jessic Ngankam due to serious foul play (80’)