Freiburg secure all three points against Mainz
Nils Petersen opened the scoring as Freiburg ended their run of six matches without a win at home to Mainz.
Freiburg 2-1 Mainz
Goals: 1-0 Petersen (51'), 2-0 Kath (90'), 2-1 Berggreen (90'+3)
The visitors opened the game on the front foot and came close to capitalising on a poor throw from Pascal Stenzel, but Levin Öztunali’s effort from the edge of the box went just wide. Freiburg soon settled down, however it remained Mainz who looked the most likely to make a breakthrough, although the vast majority of efforts were restricted to distance. The closest Freiburg came before the break was a free-kick from captain Julian Schuster, but Robin Zentner was able to watch it curl wide. Alexandru Maxim had another effort from the edge of the box for Mainz, but once again it was too high to test Alexander Schwolow.
Both coaches made changes at the break with Ryan Kent replacing Bartosz Kapustka for Freiburg and Suat Serdar coming on for Alexandru Maxim, and the hosts came close to taking the lead early in the second half when Marco Terrazzino looked to curl one from inside the box, but goalkeeper Zentner was perfectly placed to make the stop. It wasn’t long though until Freiburg did take the lead as Nils Petersen pounced on a loose ball back from Danny Latza to round Zentner and slot home for the third game in a row against Mainz. It was reward for the hosts who had more shots in the first five minutes of the second half (4) than the whole of the first (3). The visitors came close with what would have been the goal of the season, but Jean-Philipp Gbamin’s effort from his own half hit the bar, an Danny Latza’s follow-up header was saved by Schwolow. Substitute Florian Kath rounded Zentner late on to double the lead with his first Bundesliga goal and confirm all three points for Freiburg. Emil Berggreen did get one back late into injury time but it was too late for the visitors.
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Match stats
- Mainz had only lost one of their last seven league matches coming into this game, conceding just one goal per game on average over that period.Freiburg have now won twice on home turf this season. At the same juncture in 2016/17 they had already picked up four home wins.The visitors have failed now to win any of their last 12 away games.Freiburg striker Nils Petersen has scored in his last three games against Mainz.Mainz have converted every one of their last 19 penalties, the third-longest such run in Bundesliga history.
Line-ups
Freiburg: Schwolow - Koch, Schuster (c), Kempf - Stenzel, Höfler, Günter - Kapustka (Kent 46'), Terrazzino (Stanko 78') – Haberer (Kath 87'), Petersen
Unused subs: Gikiwiewicz, Söyüncü, Ravet, Kübler
Coach: Christian Streich
Mainz: Zentner - Brosinski, Bell (c), Hack, Holtmann - Gbamin – Maxim (Serdar 46'), Latza - Öztunali (Berggreen 79'), Fischer (Quaison 79') – Kodro
Unused subs: Huth, Frei, Bussmann, Bungert
Coach: Sandro Schwarz
Watch: Freiburg's Liverpool loanee Ryan Kent discusses the win over Mainz