Mainz claim derby victory after showing tremendous fight

Even being outnumbered for over 70 minutes was not enough to stop 1. FSV Mainz 05 on Saturday afternoon. The 05ers claimed victory in the Rhine-Main derby away to Eintracht Frankfurt, winning 3-1 thanks to a brace from Paul Nebel and an own goal from Frankfurt goalkeeper Kaua Santos. Eintracht had dominated the game even before Nadiem Amiri was shown a straight red card, but the visitors’ selfless, determined performance, some brilliance from Robin Zentner and the hosts’ inability to finish ensured a fourth away win this season. 6,000 travelling Mainz fans were able to celebrate a perfect end to 2024, seeing their team in the top half of the Bundesliga table with 25 points from 15 games at Christmas.

Da Costa and Sieb return to the starting XI

The 05ers fielded two changes to their starting line-up for the final game of 2024. Armindo Sieb replaced injured top scorer Jonny Burkardt up front, while former Eintracht player Danny da Costa returned to the back three after missing the home win against FC Bayern.

A player down but two goals up

There was a fast start to the game in front of the sell-our crowd when Frankfurt's Ellyes Skhiri fired off a first warning shot from after exactly 40 seconds, just missing the Mainz net. The hosts looked more alert and had overwhelming control both with and without the ball throughout the early stages, while FSV initially lacked cohesion. It was only thanks to a magnificent clearance by Dominik Kohr in the seventh minute that Mainz were able to keep the score level. The FSV centre-back blocked Omar Marmoush’s effort at the last second. Mainz head coach Henriksen used a stoppage in play to instil some impetus back into his players on the touchline with 12 minutes gone. The 05ers survived their lacklustre opening quarter of an hour unscathed before they then took the lead out of nowhere. The high pressing from both Paul Nebel and Nadiem Amiri led to a bizarre lobbed own goal from Ellyes Shkiri following a risky pass from Brazilian goalkeeper Kaua Santos (16’).

However, the 05ers were unable to relish the feeling of taking the lead for long. Firstly, Robin Zentner required the help of the crossbar to prevent Rasmus Kristensen’s header from equalising (19’). Immediately afterwards, Amiri made a rough tackle on Shkiri in the opposition penalty area and was shown a straight red card by referee Florian Badstübner. From the 21st minute onwards, the visitors therefore had to withstand the pressure of the hosts with only ten men. No matter, though, since when Nebel tried his luck from 18 yards during one of the rare forays forward, the deflected ball zipped past Santos and into the net to make it 2-0 to Mainz (27’). The fact that it stayed that way was down to the now improved and more combative defensive display along with Frankfurt’s inaccuracy in attack and goalkeeper Zentner, who was able to keep out shots from Farès Chaibi and Ekitiké. Even after four minutes of stoppage time and another near miss from Marmoush, the two-goal lead remained intact. FSV had been convincing in terms of their fighting spirit and efficiency in front of goal in a rather peculiar first half.

Nebel bags his latest brace as the 05ers continue to fight hard

While the hosts made a double switch in order to add some attacking strength, FSV emerged from the break unchanged. As in the first period, Eintracht dominated and pressed for the equaliser. Substitute Can Uzun missed the first big chance when he failed to hit the ball properly, faced solely with Zentner (49’). The 05ers continued to make pinpricks, though. Nebel’s shot following a counter-attack was only blocked in the penalty area at the last moment (51’). Henriksen made his first substitution after 57 minutes, bringing on Niki Veratschnig for Sieb, and the Austrian almost immediately had a hand in Mainz’s next goal. Veratschnig was quick to capitalise on a short pass from Santos, who was initially able to parry Jae-sung Lee’s subsequent strike. Nebel was first to rebound, however, and hit the ball left-footed into the right-hand corner for his second goal of the afternoon (58’).

Eintracht coach Dino Toppmöller decided that he simply had to go for it after that, making three more offensive substitutions, bringing on Ansgar Knauff, Jean-Mattéo Bahoya and Igor Matanovic. Nevertheless, it was the ten Mainz players who clearly had the upper hand around the hour mark as they kept up their pressure on the home side, who took a short while before they got anywhere near Zentner’s goal once again. However there remained a keeper’s glove or a defender’s leg in the way every time Frankfurt sought a goal back. That was until the 75-minute mark, when Kristensen headed a corner kick from Uzun into the left-hand side of the net, giving Zentner no chance and reducing the deficit to 3-1. With Hyun-seok Hong and Silvan Widmer replacing Anthony Caci and Lee, an uncomfortable final quarter of an hour began.

The game had turned as FSV now had to defend deep. Headers from Robin Koch and Matanovic again tested Zentner and attempts to create some relief failed to bear fruit. To make matters worse, Stefan Bell had to depart injured, replaced by Moritz Jenz. Karim Onisiwo also replaced Veratschnig (85’). Despite the five minutes of injury time, Mainz held on for the 3-1 away win.