10-man Mainz earn hard-fought point

1. FSV Mainz 05 racked up another vital point on Saturday afternoon as they hosted Freiburg in the match to celebrate the 120th anniversary of the club’s founding. Despite a red card for Dominik Kohr which left Mainz down to 10 players for more than half of the contest, they only just missed out on all three points. Goals from Jonny Burkardt und Andreas Hanche-Olsen were cancelled out by those from the visiting Michael Gregoritsch and Lukas Kübler to record a 2-2 stalemate that appeared fair on balance.

For Mainz’s first home match in three weeks, Bo Henriksen opted for the same team that started the 3-1 win away in Mönchengladbach. Lennard Maloney was absent from the squad due to a flu-like infection, with Arnaud Nordin taking his place.

Burkardt nets before Kohr sees red

To celebrate the 120th anniversary of the founding of FSV, the MEWA ARENA was adorned by an impressive choreo display. Proceedings on the pitch failed to match in the opening period, with little of note produced in attacking areas. However, off the back of the teams’ remarkable defensive records of late, this should perhaps have come as little surprise. The first half-chance of the afternoon fell to Freiburg captain Christian Günter in the seventh minute but he saw his volley from 16 yards out loop onto the roof of the net.

While the hosts had more of the ball, they struggled to penetrate a visiting team who sat deep when defending and looked the more dangerous of the sides going forward during the first 20 minutes, albeit without creating too much trouble for Robin Zentner. FSV’s first chance of the half came the way of Anthony Caci, who latched onto Jae-sung Lee’s cross to unleash from the edge of the box but was unable to guide his effort on target (22’). Mainz upped the pressure, provided with added motivation by a total of 30,000 Mainz fans watching on. A continued lack of chances only spoke for the characteristic disciplined performances from each of the teams. Nevertheless, when the 05ers did take the lead after just over half an hour, it was a deserved one on the balance of play. Nadiem Amiri showed why he has been called up to the Germany squad once again as he found Caci on the right flank with a nice pass in the 34th minute. The Frenchman then delivered a trademark fizzing low ball across the face of the visitors’ goal where Burkardt was on hand to finish from six yards out to make it 1-0 with his 15th goal of the season.

Any fans expecting a relaxed end to the first half would have been misguided in their beliefs due to defensive fragility which suddenly emerged from the 05ers. After some quick transitional play, Junior Adamu played in former Mainz attacker Lucas Höler, who went down following a slight tug back from Kohr which prevented a goalscoring opportunity. Referee Benjamin Brand initially awarded a spot kick and yellow card to the defender, but a VAR review showed the offence to have occurred just outside the penalty area, so the decision was altered to give a free-kick and a straight red. Zentner’s fingertips prevented the situation from becoming even tougher for FSV to take as he kept out Vincenzo Grifo's subsequent dead-ball attempt to preserve a half-time lead (44’).

Freiburg hit back but FSV fight hard to earn point

Bo Henriksen made his first move in terms of personnel at the break, bringing on Andreas Hanche-Olsen for Phillipp Mwene to fill the gap in the back three. The move saw Paul Nebel take up a position on the left wing. The visitors’ plan appeared to have remained the same for the second period as they continued to stay compact and in a low block at the back before trying to hit on the counter. They had decent success with this strategy, forcing Zentner into a save on 53 minutes after Gregoritsch diverted a Ritsu Doan cross on target with his head. Burkardt then worked his way past three defenders before firing in a shot on goal that was comfortably collected by Noah Atubolu (57’). Mainz’s top scorer had perhaps been too eager in letting fly and shortly after had to watch as Gregoritsch found himself all alone in the box as he was able to nod in the equaliser unchallenged. Günter had delivered from the left as the Austrian striker sneaked between Moritz Jenz and Hanche-Olsen to give Zentner no chance from ten yards out and level the scores (58’). FSV suddenly found themselves under the cosh and had to rely on their keeper on multiple occasions to prevent his team from falling behind. Höler had plenty of time to pick out the corner of the net following yet another cross, but he failed to convert from close range thanks to Zentner’s reflexes (63’). Mainz grew back into the game after seeing out a wave of pressure and managed another shot in the 66th minute, but Lee could not turn Amiri’s delivery on target.

The closing stages of the game marked a shift in proceedings as things became vastly more open and the home side successfully endeavoured to regain the advantage. Caci had found the outside of the net to fire in a warning shot on 69 minutes before goal number two arrived just five later. A plethora of crosses had been half-cleared before Caci was involved again, this time finding the required precision in his delivery to pick out Hanche-Olsen who displayed a similar level of accuracy in his header from 10 yards. He found the far corner of the net to restore the lead at 2-1 (74’). Nevertheless, the Mainz fans were not able to celebrate for long, as Freiburg hit back almost right away, bagging a second equaliser after 79 minutes when Doan skipped past Jenz to lay the ball on a plate for Lukas Kübler. He turned the cross home from just a matter of inches to ultimately earn a share of the spoils. Although being pegged back twice will be tough for Mainz to take, the draw sees them keep their opponents at bay, retaining their three-point buffer over them in the standings.

After a hard-fought performance, playing with 10 for so long, Mainz deservedly move onto 45 points after 26 matches, seeing them remain third in the table. The next fixture on the schedule arrives in more than two weeks time, when they travel to face Borussia Dortmund on the Sunday following the international break.