One Point Won or Two Points Lost?

When an opponent puts in an equalizer with three minutes left in a match, it brings some disappointment along with it. Coach Thomas Tuchel also had mixed feelings. “Looking at the way the whole match went, of course were a little frustrated that the end result was only one point,” stated the 05er Coach. “But fundamentally, we can live with a draw in Leverkusen.” In other words, it's simply not a foregone conclusion that Mainz 05 can take at least one point out of the BayArena. Especially after the Mainz side's play in the first half on Saturday. The hosts were in control of the game and were becoming more and more dangerous. Leverkusen's Coach Sascha Lewandowski presented a fairly accurate description of his teams play: “...we had a good to very good first half, we were wide awake and applied pressure from the very first minute and our plays were working well.”

05er goalkeeper Christian Wetklo certainly couldn't complain about boredom in the first half on Saturday. He deflected a header from Michael Kadlec (10), held a free kick from André Schürrle (21), cleared out the ball in front of a charging Karim Bellarabi (22), thwarted a quality chance for Stefan Kießling (27), and was forced to concede a minor defeat just before the half break. “Wetti” brought down the shot from the unmarked Kießling just behind the goal line.

Our 05ers only offered a spattering of offensive highlights in the first half. Austrian Andreas Ivanschitz sent two shots just high of Bernd Leno's goal. The main problem in Tuchel's eyes, was a “lack of confident and secure combinations.” After the break, the two sides switched roles. Our 05ers managed a clean re-start. Only minutes into the second half, Simon Rolfes deflected a goalbound shot from Ivanschitz into the post. It was a sign for both players and supporters that this game was still up for grabs. Zdenek Pospech then served up the 1:1 for a waiting Ádám Szalai on silver platter. Marcel Risse announced his already celebrated comeback with a goal to give Mainz the lead. It was especially sweet that it came in the 76^th minute against Leverkusen in the BayArena. Risse had his Bundesliga debut in this exact minute on May 7^th, 2008 in the BayArena; at that time in a Bayer Leverkusen kit. It was no surprise, then, that this super-sub was exceptionally happy about this particular goal. “After such a long pause; to be substituted in and then shoot a goal in Leverkusen, it's a great feeling,” stated Risse, whose last Bundesliga match was on the 3^rd matchday.

Of course, there would have been even more celebrating if his goal had given Mainz 05 the lead for good. But the script for this match included a bitter closing act. Ivanschitz could have decided the game early with a 3:1 strike, but the ball sailed just wide of the Leverkusen goal. Then the equalizer found the inside of the netting on the other side of the pitch. A goal that “...was at that point completely unexpected,” according to Tuchel.