Mainz pull into European places after beating Augsburg

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Christian Clemens and Pablo De Blassis scored two goals apiece as 1. FSV Mainz 05 came from behind to beat relegation-threatened FC Augsburg, pulling from seventh to fifth in the process.

1. FSV Mainz 05 4-2 FC Augsburg

Goals: 0-1 Caiuby (9'), 1-1 Clemens (13'), 2-1 De Blasis (24'), 2-2 Koo (40'), 3-2 De Blasis (53'), 4-2 Clemens (76')

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Mainz nearly took the lead seconds after kicking off at their Coface Arena after Yunnus Malli tried an audacious long-range lob, but what might have been the Turkish midfielder's 11th goal season sailed wide. As it was, Augsburg duly went ahead after Caiuby steered home his third goal of 2016. Minutes later Mainz were level, though. This time Malli turned provider and Christan Clemens converted his colleague's cutback for 1-1. Pablo De Blasis then put the ZeroFivers in front midway through the half after a defensive mix-up in the visiting defence. The scoring was not over, though, and Ja-Cheol Koo finished well after a lucky break of the ball to equalise for Augsburg. 

The reverse fixture saw these sides share the points in a six-goal thriller, so it was perhaps unsurprising that there were more to come in the second half. De Blasis took his season tally to four inside the hour when he headed Daniel Brosinski's cross into the far side of the Augsburg goal. Clemens then grabbed his second goal of the game after selfless play from Jhon Cordoba and Mainz closed out their first win in four matches. 

Man of the match 

Christian Clemens. The midfielder scored two well-taken goals, and nobody worked harder. His game-high 34 sprints - most of them late surges into the Augsburg area - made him uncontrollable for the visitors. 

Talking point

A first European campaign since 2011/12 is Mainz's to lose. They were made to work hard by Augsburg, but the Bavarians did not play like relegation candidates, and with three teams in the bottom half of the table still to play, the ZeroFivers should have a respectable points haul before they face Hertha Berlin on the final day of the season.

Match stats

    Mainz have more points on the board after 28 matches (44) than they accumulated in the whole of last season (40).Augsburg have won only one of their 11 Rückrunde matches and are winless in their last six.Augsburg head coach Markus Weinzierl has overseen more wins against FC Bayern München and Borussia Mönchengladbach than he has against Mainz (one win in eight). The two sides have yet to play out a goalless draw in ten meetings in the Bundesliga.Augsburg have given away 22 points after taking the lead in matches, compared to just two last season.

Line-ups:

Mainz: Karius - Brosinski, Bell (c), Hack, Bussmann - Frei (Baumgartlinger 74'), Latza - Clemens (Moritz 87'), Malli (Onisiwo), De Blasis - Cordoba

Augsburg: Hitz - Feulner, Hong, Klavan, Max (Stafylidis 69') - Baier (c) - Kohr (Esswein 66'), Koo - Bobadilla (Altintop 84'), Caiuby - Finnbogason