Mainz put up little fight and lose to Freiburg

FSV Mainz 05 were beaten convincingly by SC Freiburg in the final match of matchday 12 of the Bundesliga season. The hosts ran out 4-0 winners, with Mainz suffering another deserved defeat in a match they never got into. Lucas Kübler and Vincenzo Grifo scored before Paul Nebel was sent off just before the half-hour mark. Johan Manzambi and Patrick Osterhage scored after the break, as Freiburg cruised to victory over a Mainz side that only managed one shot on target all game.

“From the first minute, it was an extremely disappointing performance. We had actually set ourselves the goal of turning things around here and showing a completely different face. We fully deserve to be in 18th place. We’re lacking confidence. At no point today did you feel that we could be dangerous. It was easy for Freiburg to create chances. The only things that can help us now are positive results combined with hungry, aggressive performances. We’ve been missing that for months, especially in the Bundesliga,” said sporting director Niko Bungert after the match.

Bo Henriksen made six changes from the side that drew to Hoffenheim on matchday 11. Dominik Kohr and Nadiem Amiri were suspended, while Robin Zentner was forced to miss out due to injury. Lasse Rieß took his place in the Mainz goal, while there were first Bundesliga starts for Kacper Potulski and Sota Kawasaki. Stefan Bell led his side out onto the pitch as captain for the first time in over a year.

FSV not at the races

The match started as it meant to go on – in front of the Mainz goal. After five minutes, Bell tried to clear a header in midfield but put it straight at Vincenzo Grifo, who immediately sent Lucas Höler through on goal. Höler beat Rieß for what seemed to be an early opener, but FSV were fortunate that the striker had started his run a fraction too early, meaning Mainz’s early lapse in concentration went unpunished. Mainz’s luck quickly ran out, as the hosts netted just seven minutes later. A Grifo corner found a completely unmarked Philipp Lienhart at the near post who missed from close range. Rieß could do nothing against Kübler’s effort after the rebound and Freiburg took the lead (12’). Nothing changed in terms of the visitors’ lethargic approach in the minutes that followed. The energy that the match demanded of them beforehand was nowhere to be seen. Instead, Freiburg kept pressing and looked determined to win the game as early as possible, as Yuito Suzuki fired from distance but was denied by Rieß (19’). Just two minutes later, SC Freiburg came close to their second goal multiple times. Niklas Beste was denied by Rieß and Grifo’s follow-up was cleared off the line by Potulski, before Lee finally cleared the danger, conceding a corner (21’). Nothing came of that corner, but the second goal was certainly coming. And come it did after 26 minutes, when Höler burst down the right and squared to Grifo inside the box, who left Rieß no chance from eight yards. Things got even worse two minutes later when Nebel mistimed a challenge on Lienhart and was shown a harsh straight red card with no hesitation by referee Daniel Schlager. For FSV, the match had long since become another night to forget. The half-time statistics painted the visitors in a very poor light, such as the 14–0 shot count in favour of Freiburg, who had found things all too easy up to that point.

Second half no different

Mainz seemed to come out of the break looking like they believed in a turnaround despite the man disadvantage. This hope quickly vanished, as Manzambi cut inside from the left, played a one-two with Suzuki on the edge of the box and finished past Rieß from twelve yards out (51’). Henriksen reacted immediately and brought on Lennard Maloney for Arnaud Nordin. The match remained uneventful for a long spell, which was good for the 05ers, who even managed to win a couple of corners after the restart. Fittingly, it was from one of those corners that Mainz almost conceded a fourth. Freiburg counter-attacked through Grifo, who played it to Beste, however the winger could only watch as his chipped effort was bravely cleared off the line by Kawasaki.

Mainz’s first and only shot on target came through Andreas Hanche-Olsen, who stung the palms of Noah Atubolu from just outside the box (81’). Freiburg had the final say though, as substitute Osterhage found himself less than a yard out with the ball at his feet, poking it over the line to hammer the final nail into the Mainz coffin.

This loss puts Mainz at the bottom of the Bundesliga table. The 05ers go again on Friday (20:30) at the MEWA ARENA against Borussia Mönchengladbach.