Matchday 18 Match of the Week - FSV Mainz vs. RB Leipzig

The Rückrunde [second half] of the Bundesliga began this week.  Bayern Munich is at the top of the standings with 39 points, leading RB Leipzig by four.  At the other end of the table, Mainz sits in the relegation zone with Schalke, both teams with a paltry seven points.  It’s been a difficult season for Mainz. They are on their fourth head coach of the season, Bo Svensson.  This has been their worst season in recent memory.  But Mainz have shown some signs of life as of late.  Last week, the fought Borussia Dortmund to a 1-1 draw.  On Matchday 14 they led Bayern Munich 2-0 at the half before Bayern woke up to beat them 5-2.  On the other hand, Leipzig tend to struggle against teams in the top one-third of the table [they lost to Borussia Dortmund 3-1 on Matchday 15], while they are ruthless against the lesser teams like Mainz.  For different reasons, this game was a “must win” for both teams.  Leipzig won the first meeting between the two teams on Matchday 1 in Leipzig, 3-1.  But Mainz made them work for it.  Could Mainz return the favor to open the Rückrunde?  Mainz have lost the last three meetings with Leipzig to an aggregate score of 16-1, while Leipzig have lost just one of those nine meetings with Mainz (W6, D2, L1), with their sole defeat coming at the Opel Arena in April 2018's 3-0 loss.  Mainz have lost their last four home games.  It hasn’t been an easy season for them.

Leipzig drew first blood at the fifteen-minute mark when American Tyler Adams scored his first Bundesliga goal after thirty-eight games.  Leipzig midfielder Marcel Sabitzer launched a rocket at the Mainz goal, only to see it hit the crossbar.  But Mainz left Adams unmarked and tapped in an easy rebound.  Given their recent futility against Leipzig, one wouldn’t blame Mainz for thinking “here we go again.”  Only three minutes later Mainz striker Robin Quaison headed a ball just over Leipzig’s goal, so it was clear that Mainz weren’t going to go away quietly.  At twenty-four minutes, Leipzig conceded from a set piece for the first time this season: Leipzig defender Marcel Hastenberg had committed a hard foul against Mainz midfielder Leandro Barreiro, resulting in a free kick from Mainz.  Moussa Niakhate smashed the ball home after Dominik Kohr - making his Mainz debut - had seen his header saved by Leipzig goalie Peter Gulacsi.  It was only the fourth time Mainz had scored from a set piece.

Halstenberg made up for his hard foul by scoring at thirty minutes.  He had plenty of time to take a deflection from the Mainz defense, and tucked the ball away in the back of the net.  There was nobody marking Halstenberg.  It was an easy goal.  Leipzig led 2-1, but Mainz pushed back.  They had two corner kicks in rapid succession, the second of which resulted in another goal from Moussa Niakhate, a defender (!).  With his second goal of the game, Niakhate became Mainz’s leading scorer of the season [3].  Until today, Niakhate scored twice in eighty-one Bundesliga games.  He doubled his tally today.  For a team that has been weak on scoring from set piece plays, Mainz scored twice from set pieces.  Perhaps Bo Svensson has had the team working on them in practice.  The score remained tied at 2-2 until halftime.  Mainz just refused to go away.

Once play resumed in the second half, Leipzig almost caught Mainz napping but failed to score.  Four minutes in, Danny DaCosta [newly arrived on loan from Frankfurt] streaked down the left side of the Leipzig defense, getting almost to the touch line.  He found Leandro Barreiro, who beat Peter Gulacsi to the ball and tipped it into Leipzig’s net for a 3-2 lead.  It was Barreiro’s first Bundesliga goal, and it was a beauty.  That goal came from nowhere.  Mainz had scored three at home for the first time this season but continued to push on for more, while Leipzig boss Julian Nagelsmann made early changes to try and rescue the game. Leipzig began to pile on the pressure with midfielder Christopher Nkunku forcing a fine save from Mainz goalie Robin Zentner with a curling strike just after the hour mark. Mainz never sat back, though, and continued to make life difficult for Leipzig.  Mainz striker Karim Onisiwo almost headed beyond Gulacsi while Stefan Bell also fired a shot narrowly over the crossbar as Mainz held on to record just their second win of the season.  Mainz are still in the relegation zone, but if they keep playing like this they won’t be there for long.  Leipzig need Schalke [a huge underdog] to beat Bayern to stay within reach of the top. Otherwise, they’ll drop to seven points behind the record champions.

I would be lying if I said I thought Mainz had a chance in this game.  They proved a lot of folks wrong today.  When the match started, I figured Leipzig would run Mainz out of the building, but that didn’t happen.  There was no “luck” involved here – Mainz were the better team today.  Mainz worked hard today.