Matchday 13 - Victory in Mainz: Freiburg ends mini crisis
SC Freiburg have ended their minor results crisis in the Bundesliga and inflicted their first defeat under new coach Jan Siewert on FSV Mainz 05.
Thanks to a goal from Michael Gregoritsch (69th minute), the Breisgau side won 1:0 (0:0) in front of 30,300 spectators after four consecutive games without a win and moved up to eighth place in the table with 18 points.
Mainz remain in a relegation spot with eight points. The 05ers had previously recorded one win and three draws under Siewert, who took over from Bo Svensson at the beginning of November.
As Mainz's regular goalkeeper Robin Zentner had to miss out due to a finger injury, Daniel Batz made his second Bundesliga appearance between the posts after eleven and a half years. The 32-year-old had made his debut in May 2012 - back then in a Freiburg shirt.
However, SC keeper Noah Atubolu came into focus first. The 21-year-old saved his team from going behind early with a header from Ludovic Ajorque (4th) and later also made a strong save against Brajan Gruda. Shortly before that, Ajorque had again missed out on giving Mainz the lead when he chased the ball just over the Freiburg goal from five meters.
Midway through the first half, the visitors, who had shone in the Europa League during the week with a 5-0 win over Olympiakos Piraeus, had their first chances. Ritzu Doan failed to beat Batz with a shot, and a little later he had luck on his side when Gregoritsch hit the post.
In between these two scenes, the visitors suffered a setback in the fast-paced and entertaining match. Central defender Matthias Ginter was forced off injured after 24 minutes and Manuel Gulde came on for the international.
In stoppage time of the first half, Breisgau had another sniff at the lead. After a long cross, Gregoritsch got to the ball before Batz, but only managed to head the ball onto the far post. At the other end, Atubolu saved from Sepp van den Berg. The teams went into the break goalless.
Mainz pressed after the break, but despite a number of opportunities, the redemptive goal would not come. Freiburg barely got out of their own half during this phase and were unable to mount an organized attack.
The visitors therefore took the lead by surprise. Gregoritsch got the ball in the penalty area rather by chance and gave Batz no chance with a low shot into the corner. In the final phase, the home side threw everything forward once more, but were unable to equalize.
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Source: www.stern.de
