B.orussia Mönchengladbach suffered a minor setback in the fight for a place in the Champions League. At FSV Mainz 05, the team of coach Adi Hütter came to the start of the 11th match day on Friday evening only to a 1: 1 (1: 0). Before the maximum number of spectators of 25,000, Florian Neuhaus (38th) had put Gladbach in the lead after a mistake by Mainz goalkeeper Robin Zentner with a goal from close range. The deserved equalizer for Mainz in the hard-fought game succeeded Silvan Widmer (76th minute) with a remarkable shot in the corner of the goal. Mainz maintained fifth place in the table, Mönchengladbach improved to ninth place for the time being.
“We stopped playing football in the second half. Mainz deserved to equalize in the end. We have set ourselves more goals for the away game, ”criticized Neuhaus scorer in the DAZN streaming service, but was happy about his first goal of the season:“ That was a great feeling for me. ”The Mainz team were relieved to win the point. “It feels like two points,” said Silvan Widmer, “today’s draw is well deserved. At times we were the more active team. We’ll take the point with us. Towards the end we had more power. “
The large crowd of spectators had initially messed up the usual processes of the guests. Because the Gladbachers were stuck in a traffic jam, they reached the stadium with a slight delay. This is not ideal because you don’t have the processes that you would like, said managing director Max Eberl in the DAZN streaming service. Still, he did not see this as a bad omen. “We came a little too late in the game against Bayern Munich and I think the effect wasn’t so bad afterwards,” he said. Mönchengladbach had won 5-0 against the German champions in the second round of the DFB Cup.
Contrary to Eberl’s hope, however, the team of coach Adi Hütter did not playfully develop in the beginning. Without regular captain Lars Stindl, who was not in the starting line-up for the first time since May, the Gladbach team didn’t really get going. This was mainly due to the strong fighting and running Mainz, who vehemently disturbed the guests early in the game.
Double bad luck with injuries
The hosts, with which captain Moussa Niakhaté played from the start after a thigh injury healed, developed promising opportunities in contrast to the Gladbach team. However, both Jonathan Burkardt and Karim Onisiwo failed to hit the goal. In addition, Denis Zakaria, who was in the starting eleven despite gastrointestinal problems during the week, prevented further Mainz opportunities with great commitment.
After almost half an hour, the guests suffered twice as bad luck with injuries. First Nico Elvedi had to leave the pitch after a foul with an ankle injury and was replaced by Florian Neuhaus. Shortly thereafter, Breel Embolo limped off the field with a damaged thigh. In the 30th minute, the long-injured Marcus Thuram celebrated his comeback for him.
Eight minutes later, the newly formed Gladbacher took the lead thanks to a mistake by Robin Zentner: The Mainz goalkeeper let a shot from Ramy Bensebaini ricochet off, the substitute Neuhaus dusted off from close range.
Mainz started the second half with a lot of momentum and had a good chance to equalize through Jae-Sung Lee with a long-range shot and Onisiwo. On the other hand, the guests tried to calm the game through ball relays, but with limited success. Mainz still had the more compelling opportunities, but both Alexander Hack and Burkhardt and Lee forgave – also because Gladbach’s goalkeeper Yann Sommer parried brilliantly again and again. The Swiss was then powerless when his compatriot Widmer made a well-deserved shot at the corner of the goal.
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