Ruthless BVB dispatch FSV

The third home game of the season went much the same way as the previous two, as the 05ers failed to score a goal again. With that being said, Mainz were unlucky to not find the back of the net, but ultimately had to admit defeat to Borussia Dortmund. The Champions League side were given two gifts for their two first-half goals, scored by Daniel Svensson and Karim Adeyemi. FSV were the more dangerous side in the second half, but had to play out the last half an hour a man down following Robin Zentner’s red card. 

Bo Henriksen made three changes from the side that beat Augsburg: Dominik Kohr’s suspension after his red card last weekend meant Maxim Leitsch came into the starting XI, while the injured Anthony Caci was replaced by captain Silvan Widmer. The final change saw Arnaud Nordin drop to the bench in favour of Jae-sung Lee, who was back from a minor injury.

Nebel unlucky, BVB ruthless

A last-minute change to the starting line-up saw the visitors’ star striker Serhou Guirassy drop to the bench, with Julian Brandt taking his place in the squad. The personnel change of course altered BVB’s approach to the game, but this wasn’t too noticeable within the first few minutes, as both teams looked to just suss each other out. Kaishu Sano took aim and fired a shot on the seven-minute mark, however it missed by some distance. Dortmund remained patient and looked for openings to set their speedy strikers Adeyemi and Maximilian Beier away. This plan didn’t seem to be working too well for BVB, who went the first 20 minutes without an attempt on goal. Despite this, the game was exciting, with FSV maintaining a certain level of control over proceedings. Things soon changed, with a lot of things all happening in quick succession. Paul Nebel was centimetres away from putting the hosts ahead after getting on the end of a long ball from Armindo Sieb and the MEWA ARENA could only watch in agony as his attempt came back off the post (26’). Things quickly went from bad to worse for the 05ers, as Adeyemi and Beier countered quickly and a mix-up in the middle of the Mainz box between Sano and Widmer meant that Brandt’s cross only needed to be tapped in by Svensson at the back post (27’).

Mainz looked to respond to the somewhat fortunate Dortmund opener by keeping up their high press, but struggled to create any more real chances after Nebel’s, as they found it difficult to find gaps in a well-organised Dortmund defence. Things got even worse again for the 05ers five minutes before the break: A throw-in high in Dortmund territory was given away to Adeyemi, who cut through the middle of the pitch and played a one-two with Brandt to get past the lone Sano, who could do nothing to stop the striker from burying his effort in the bottom corner to make it 2-0 after 40 minutes. The visitors took this two-goal advantage with them into the half-time break.

FSV looked dangerous until the red card

Neither team made a change at half time and the game continued as it had done before. Borussia remained mostly passive and in control, while Mainz looked the slightly more exciting side, but ultimately without creating any real chances. Around the hour mark, a Nebel corner found the head of Andreas Hanche-Olsen, who could only find the gloves of Gregor Kobel with his effort (56’). Henriksen made his first changes six minutes later and brought Stefan Bell and Nordin on for Leitsch and Lee. This change would make little difference due to what occurred four minutes later. A precise clearance from Kobel in behind the Mainz defence found Adeyemi, who was subsequently taken out by Zentner 25 yards from goal. Referee Tobias Reichel was left with no other option but to send the FSV number one off. Hanche-Olsen was substituted off in the immediate aftermath for backup goalkeeper Lasse Rieß (67’). It was always going to be an almost impossible task for FSV to get something out of the game in the closing stages, although they did threaten through a Bell header from an Amiri corner in the 73rd minute. 

Borussia stuck to their game plan and rarely ventured forwards enough to create any real danger, choosing instead to sit back and make it difficult for Mainz to break them down. The next Mainz chance came in the 84th minute, as Nordin combined with Nebel before cutting inside and unleashing a fierce effort which flew just over the bar. Rieß proved his worth in injury time, making a fine reaction save to deny Brandt and preventing what would have been a very generous third Dortmund goal.

This defeat means that Mainz sit on four points after five league games ahead of their meeting with newly-promoted Hamburger SV next Sunday (17:30 CEST). Before that, Mainz travel to Cyprus to face Omonia Nikosia in the first league phase game of this season’s UEFA Conference League. Around 1,500 FSV fans are expected to attend Thursday’s game (18:45 CEST).