A third successive defeat on the road

1. FSV Mainz 05 are finding life away from their own patch tough going in 2025, as a third straight loss on the road already was sealed with the 1-0 defeat at the hands of SV Werder in Bremen. A lacklustre first half under the Weserstadion floodlights did the damage for the 05ers. Although Robin Zentner was able to save a penalty from Marvin Ducksch, FSV trailed from the 14th minute onwards thanks to Leonardo Bittencourt’s goal. Mainz did turn up the heat in the second period, creating several good opportunities, including a shot by Danny da Costa that hit the post, but Bo Henriksen’s side seemed to want to overcomplicate things in and around the opposing box. The visiting team were not even able to make a two-player advantage in stoppage time count when the hosts were reduced to nine. The matchday 20 clash sees SV Werder move to within a point of the 05ers, who remain in sixth place on 31 points.

Unchanged starting line-up as new signing makes the bench

Head coach Bo Henriksen saw no reason to make any changes to the XI that won against Stuttgart last weekend. The Dane signed a contract extension that will keep him at the club until 2027 during the week and was able to name Moritz Jenz on the bench again following injury along with new arrival Arnaud Nordin.

Zentner saves spot kick before Werder take the lead against erratic Mainz side

The clash at the Weserstadion sprung into life right from the first whistle. The home side’s first presentable chance after a mere few seconds saw Romano Schmid’s header find the left-hand post and, with his follow-up shot, the Austrian sent the ball just inches over the bar. The hosts looked the more alert of the two sides as they demonstrated more vigour in their tackling as well as sharper minds during the opening exchanges. That difference in sharpness was very apparent on nine minutes when Zentner tried to recover a poor touch by lunging in on Romano Schmid. Although the keeper did seem to get a foot on the ball, he also connected with the attacking player and a penalty was awarded. However, the Mainz stopper made up for the mistake with his subsequent save to deny Marvin Ducksch’s spot kick sent towards the right corner (12’). However, the visitors were unable to keep a committed Werder side out for much longer. A corner on 14 minutes fell fortunately at the feet of Leonardo Bittencourt, who swept the ball home to give Bremen a deserved lead (14’). 

SVW continued to try and penetrate the 05ers’ back line via quick and direct passing but the away side slowly began to create more going forward themselves. However, the finishing touch was then lacking as Nadiem Amiri’s free-kick from 30 yards (27’) and a close-range shot from Nelson Weiper both sailed high of the hosts’ goal (28’). Uncharacteristic errors from the 05ers repeatedly presented the home side with chances, one notable attempted clearance from Zentner ricocheting off Schmid and zipping just yards wide of the unguarded net. Ducksch was also through on goal following a misplaced pass, but the striker did not put enough force behind his lobbed effort. Mainz had made it into more of an even contest as the break approached albeit without creating much in the way of scoring opportunities. Despite five minutes of stoppage time at the end of the first period, the visitors still trailed 1-0 and had plenty of room for improvement in the second half, both in and out of possession.

05ers show improved drive but Werder just get over the line

Amiri had to be replaced by Hyun-seok Hong at half-time after sustaining a knock right before the break, with Jae-sung Lee taking up his vacated position alongside Kaishu Sano in holding midfield. The newly-introduced South Korean then took up an offensive birth in behind the striker and played a role in the more energetic display following the restart. The away side then also received the first good opportunity of the second period when Lee’s header from an Anthony Caci corner just missed the top-right corner of the net, sailing over. The hosts continued to put Zentner under pressure, with Schmid once again diverting the ball wide of the upright. Mainz kept pressing for the equaliser and gradually looked as if they were coming nearer to finding it. Weiper saw his flicked header kept out by a Zetterer at full stretch (50’) before Paul Nebel was set up by the centre-forward only to have his shot blocked (51’). Sano then tried his luck from an acute angle was found lacking for accuracy (53’). Injury then forced Henriksen into his second change of the evening as Maxim Leitsch assumed Stefan Bell’s role in the back three.

A leveller for FSV would have been a deserved one after they kept their hosts at bay bar a few breaks on the counter-attack. Danny da Costa’s deflected effort was then only denied by the post (61’) and SVW defender Niklas Stark was required to acrobatically clear off the line following Nebel’s dinked ball into the Werder six-yard box (69’). Werder did then look threatening once more after an extended period of defensive focus. However, neither the rapid Justin Njinmah on the counter nor Marco Friedl with a header from a corner could find a second Bremen goal. Henriksen reacted and brought on two new forwards in Armindo Sieb and Nordin for the closing stages, while Silvan Widmer also received some minutes. However, the 05ers could not turn dominant possession into further scoring chances and not even were shown second yellow cards. The hosts nevertheless held on for the final few minutes with nine players.