Highlights

Matchday 18

Rescheduled

MEWA ARENA

1. FC Union Berlin

45' + 13'

GosensRobin Gosens

BurkardtJonathan Burkardt

45' + 8'

M. Petersen

MEWA ARENA

Full-time: Mainz 1-1 Union

Both teams take a share of the spoils but it's Union, who equalised here through a Robin Gosens' strike, who will be the happier as they maintain their three-point cushion above the drop zone. Jonathan Burkardt had given Mainz the lead late in the first half of this rescheduled fixture but a draw here means the hosts remain in the relegation places.

Full-time

90'

Time added on

There will be four minutes added to the end of this game at the WWK Arena.

90'

Substitution

Andreas Hanche-Olsen

Tom Krauß

90'

Substitution

Brajan Gruda

Ludovic Ajorque

90'

Speed check: The fastest player in the game after 90 minutes

Through high-end camera technology and machine learning, the speed of each player is evaluated in real time. Top speed then means, the fastest measured single frame of a player/game.

Jonathan Burkardt32.10km/h

Yorbe Vertessen31.63km/h

András Schäfer31.47km/h

89'

Yellow card

Dominik Kohr

89'

Yellow card

Danilho Doekhi

88'

Vertessen denied

Suddenly Yorbe Vertessen is running clear and here comes Union's opportunity to snatch this game. The substitute is forced slightly to the right before sending a low shot at goal, which Zentner gets down to save.

End-game approaching

Will there be one more big chance as this game heads towards a conclusion?

85'

Haberer booked

Janik Haberer goes into the referee's notebook late on here and the 29-year-old will now serve a one-match ban following an accumulation of yellow cards.

84'

Yellow card

Janik Haberer

82'

Union subs

Gosens and Volland have put in a shift here, the former scoring Union's equaliser. Both make way as Brenden Aaronson and Jérôme Roussillon come on for the visitors.

82'

Substitution

Jérôme Roussillon

Robin Gosens

82'

Substitution

Brenden Aaronson

Kevin Volland

81'

Ngankam in the mix

The lively Onisiwo makes way for Jessic Ngankam, who is on loan at Mainz from Eintracht Frankfurt.

80'

Substitution

Jessic Ngankam

Karim Onisiwo

79'

Diogo Leite booked

The former Porto man pulls Onisiwo to the floor and that's a booking for Diogo Leite.

79'

Yellow card

Diogo Leite

78'

Volland set piece

Kevin Volland whips a free kick from the left just too high of the Mainz goal.

78'

Top runners

Distance run (km)

10.3

10.8

Anthony Caci Robin Gosens

76'

Union switch

Alex Král is on for the final quarter of an hour here.

76'

Substitution

Alex Král

András Schäfer

74'

Onisiwo misses a sitter

This is a huge chance for Mainz. Laidouni Inexplicably hooks the ball from the edge of his own area back towards the Union goal. Onisiwo finds himself right in front of the target but can only head wide.

72'

Union probing

Haberer finds Union substitute Vertessen who, in turn, looks to pick out Volland. The ball is just too far ahead of the striker.

70'

Mainz swap

Here comes Dominik Kohr for the visitors to make his 266th Bundesliga appearance. Nadiem Amiri makes way.

70'

Substitution

Dominik Kohr

Nadiem Amiri

66'

Busy in attack

Shots

Jonathan Burkardt Kevin Volland

64'

Union changes

Kevin Vogt picked up a niggle a short time ago and is going to be replaced by Diogo Leite. Yorbe Vertessen is also on for the visitors.

64'

Substitution

Diogo Leite

Kevin Vogt

63'

Substitution

Yorbe Vertessen

Benedict Hollerbach

62'

Close call

Ajorque goes down inside the area with Vogt in the vicinity. The Union players are claiming that the Mainz forward dived. It won't matter, as Ajorque was offside in the build up.

61'

SituationNo penalty

ReviewFoul?

DecisionNo penalty

57'

05ers getting closer

xGoals

The xGoals value of a club is calculated from the sum of all goal probabilities (goals and shots on goal) of that team. During a match, it’s easy to see whether the club is performing better than expected (goals > xGoals) - or maybe even higher (xGoals > goals).

Burkardt with a snapshopt that bounces into the arms of Rönnow this time. Mainz are bossing this game at the moment and look the far likelier of the two sides to score.

xGoals

1.31

0.69

Goals

53'

Mainz come again

Burkardt looks to latch onto Ajorque's header and the Mainz man is dragged down by Vogt, who sees a yellow card. From the resulting free kick, Amiri draws one more tidy stop from Rönnow.

53'

Yellow card

Kevin Vogt

51'

Rönnow saves Union

Frederik Rönnow pulls off a super stop from Widmer's header to keep this game at 1-1.

49'

Plenty of chances

This has been a super encounter for the neutral, with chances aplenty at either end and the second half already looks like living up to the first.

Goal attempts

7off target

4on target

8off target

3on target

48'

Burkardt keeping busy

Jonathan Burkardt is still looking lively after he scored tonight for the first time since November 13, 2022 in a 1-1 draw against Eintracht Frankfurt.

46'

Mainz change

Silvan Widmer is into the action for the second half for Mainz, who take Danny da Costa off.

46'

Off we go again!

The second half is underway in this relegation six-pointer. Who will come out on top here?

Kick-off!

45'

+ 14

Substitution

Silvan Widmer

Danny da Costa

Half-time

Half-time: Mainz 1-1 Union

A very exciting first-half of football ends with two goals right at the death. With the rain teeming down at a damp WWK Arena, Jonathan Burkardt looked to have given Mainz a lead to take into the break. Robin Gosens stuck to the task, however, and his opportunistic strike at the far post brought parity before the teams headed in for a deserved cool down.

45'

+ 13

Union are level!

Amazing! Just when it looked as though Union were headed into the break with a deficit, Robin Gosens has levelled! Janik Haberer's deep cross from the right fooled the Mainz defence, who thought the ball was going out of play. Gosens watched it all the way before connecting and scoring at the back stick!

45'

+ 13

SituationGoal

ReviewBall out of play?

DecisionGoal

45'

+ 13

Robin Gosens

GOAL!

1:1

Goal probability

Goal probability determines the likelihood that the ball will land in the goal from every position on the pitch. The value is based on large amounts of data from previous years; factors such as shot angle, distance to goal and opponent pressure - as well as mathematical models.

8 %

Distance to Goal

The distance to goal is measured at the time of the shot - from the position of the ball to the center of the goal.

8.2 m

45'

+ 8

Mainz hit the front!

The stadium erupts here in Mainz. Amiri's whipped corner from the right is met perfectly by Jonathan Burkardt, his glancing header fizzing in at the far post. The 05ers lead late in the half.

45'

+ 8

Jonathan Burkardt

GOAL!

1:0

Goal probability

11 %

Distance to Goal

The distance to goal is measured at the time of the shot - from the position of the ball to the center of the goal.

7.46 m

45'

Time added on

We'll have nine minutes of added time at the WWK Arena ...

40'

Volland hits the woodwork again!

He's already found the crossbar this evening and now Kevin Volland smashes a left-footed drive towards the near post from outside the area. The ball cannons off the base of the upright.

Union press forward

Da Costa, Volland and Hollerbach combine on the counter and as a deflected shot is the result, the ball looping over the crossbar.

30'

Speed check: The fastest player in the game after 30 minutes

Through high-end camera technology and machine learning, the speed of each player is evaluated in real time. Top speed then means, the fastest measured single frame of a player/game.

Jonathan Burkardt32.10km/h

András Schäfer31.47km/h

Benedict Hollerbach31.06km/h

25'

Zentner in top form

Schäfer picks out Haberer who wallops a shot at goal from distance. Zentner gets down to beat that bouncing ball out.

20'

Amiri set piece

Amiri curls a free kick from the edge of the area that lands on the roof of the net.

17'

Schäfer shoots

Andras Schäfer takes some of the pressure off Union with a snapshot that dribbles wide. Cracking start to this game with shots a plenty.

15'

Ajorque booked

Ajorque is back on the pitch with a bandage across his nose and quickly goes in for a heavy challenge before seeing a yellow card.

15'

Yellow card

Ludovic Ajorque

11'

Ajorque bloodied

Ajorque took a smack to the nose in that last Mainz attack and he'll need treatment for that.

10'

End-to-end

Rönnow makes a super double stop to deny the hosts. From the resulting corner, a game of pinball ensues and Ajorque is kept out by Rönnow once more.

Volland hits the crossbar!

Kevin Volland connects with a cross from the right by Janik Haberer and the ball clips the underside of the crossbar. A let off for Mainz.

Hollerbach chooses power

Benedict Hollerbach paces forward before blasting a left-footed shot at the target that is well stopped by Frederik Rönnow.

Burkardt off target

A Mainz set piece straight away and it leads to Jonathan Burkardt heading off target.

Game on!

We're underway at a very wet WWK Arena.

Kick-off!

Teams out!

The teams emerge into the Mainz late evening and it's handshakes all around as we get set to kick off this rescheduled match.

Rain falling

It's a rainy evening at the WWK Arena as fans sip on warm drinks and look down on both teams as they go through their pre-match warm-ups. Not long to kick off now.

Captain Khedira

Visiting skipper Rani Khedira, who has been plagued by injuries this season, is in Union's starting eleven for the first time this year.

Union team news

Union have Frederik Rønnow back between the posts with the goalkeeper having recovered from illness. Elsewhere, Rani Khedira, Aïssa Laïdouni and Kevin Volland make it into the starting XI. Christopher Trimmel is suspended, Yorbe Vertessen is benched and Lucas Tousart misses out completely.

Mainz team news

The hosts are showing three changes to the side that narrowly lost out against Werder Bremen on Saturday. Danny da Costa, Edimilson Fernandes and Ludovic Ajorque are all in while Silvan Widmer, Phillipp Mwene and Jessic Ngankam are benched.

Mainz starting XI

Zentner (c) - Da Costa, Van den Berg, Fernandes, Caci - Barreiro, Krauß - Amiri - Onisiwo, Ajorque, Burkardt

Mainz subs

Rieß, Guilavogui, Hanche-Olsen, Mwene, Widmer, Kohr, Richter, Gruda, Ngankam

Union starting XI

Rønnow - Knoche, Vogt, Doekhi - Khedira (c) - Laïdouni, Haberer, Schäfer, Gosens - Volland, Hollerbach

Union subs

Schwolow, Roussillon, Diogo Leite, Jaeckel, Král, Aaronson, Vertessen, Kaufmann, Bedia

Head-to-head

In the nine Bundesliga games played out between these sides, Mainz have won just one. A scoreless draw at the WWK Arena in 2022/23 was preceded by a 2-1 victory in the German capital. Don't forget that on the opening day of the current campaign, Die Eisernen won 4-1.

"Keep Union penned in"

Mainz coach Jan Siewert's message to his players ahead of this rescheduled game was to be, "... clinical when we’re attacking and avoid long balls [and] to get stuck in and keep [Union] penned in." In terms of the 05ers' place in the Bundesliga basement, the 41-year-old added, "We’re three points from safety, but would love it to be three fewer after the game. We’ve got to make it clear that something good is happening here."

"Goal is to win"

With Union coach Nenad Bjelica suspended, his assistant, Marie-Louise Eta, fielded questions from the media in yesterday's pre-match press conference. "The boys know exactly what's at stake and it's our goal to win this game against Mainz," she explained ahead of this evening's encounter. "Of course the relegation battle won't end if we pick up three points [this time]. That takes some of the pressure off the players, because we still have enough chances after this game to get the points we need," Eta added.

Changing fortunes

Mainz won their first game under Jan Siewert, beating Leipzig 2-0, but are currently nine without a win (D5, L4). Union also went through a change of coach towards the end of 2023, with Nenad Bjelica replacing Urs Fischer. Die Eisernen have collected 10 points from a possible 21 on his watch, compared to six in their first 11 games of the campaign under his predecessor.

2:58

Watch: Mainz 0-1 Werder Bremen - highlights

Despite 20 shots on goal, Mainz were unable to find a way to overcome Marvin Ducksch's early strike for Bremen, leaving the 05ers in the automatic relegation zone, four points behind Cologne in 16th and six short of upcoming opponents Union in safety.

4:00

Watch: RB Leipzig 2-0 Union Berlin - highlights

Union's winless run away from home reached nine games as they were beaten in Leipzig on Sunday, also losing captain Christopher Trimmel to a red card. The Irons remain only two points above the bottom three.

Probable XI for Mainz

Zentner - Widmer (c), Van den Berg, Caci, Mwene - Barreiro, Krauß - Onisiwo, Amiri, Burkardt - Ngankam

Out for Mainz

Bell (ill), Lee (international duty), Weiper (knee)

Doubtful for Mainz

Gruda (hip)

Probable XI for Union

Rønnow - Knoche, Vogt, Doekhi - Khedira (c) - Laïdouni, Haberer, Schäfer, Gosens - Volland, Hollerbach

Out for Union

Juranović (muscular), Tousart (personal reasons), Trimmel (suspended)

Doubtful for Union

Roussillon (muscular)

2:03

Watch: Union Berlin 4-1 Mainz - previous meeting

In what seems like a lifetime ago for Union, they got the season off to a flier on Matchday 1 with a thumping victory over Mainz that saw Kevin Behrens net a hat-trick.

New date

This game was originally scheduled to be played on Friday, 19 January but was postponed due to unsafe wintery conditions around Mainz's MEWA Arena. It will now be played at 6.30pm CET on Wednesday, 7 February.

0:30

Hello and welcome!

Thanks for joining us for build-up and live coverage of this rearranged Matchday 18 fixture between Mainz and Union Berlin.