Japanese international Shinji Okazaki hit a brace as Mainz picked up a vital three points courtesy of a 3-2 win away to Freiburg
Japanese international Shinji Okazaki hit a brace as Mainz picked up a vital three points courtesy of a 3-2 win away to Freiburg

Clinical Okazaki leads Mainz to victory in Freiburg

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Mainz - 1. FSV Mainz 05 edged out SC Freiburg with a clinical 3-2 victory at the Schwarzwald-Stadion, taking a major step to safety this term.

Okazaki on the spot

A Shinji Okazaki brace - his 11th and 12th goals of the season - had Mainz in control at the interval, and although Admir Mehmedi gave the hosts hope, Yunus Malli’s goal sealed the 05ers’ win, despite Jonathan Schmid’s late strike.

Freiburg had come into the game on a run of seven points from nine, and they began the game confidently in the Black Forest sunshine, with Mehmedi drawing a smart stop from Loris Karius and Schmid skewing an effort wide of the target. It came against the run of play, therefore, that Mainz went in at the break two goals to the good thanks to two predatory finishes from Okazaki.

Freiburg coach Christian Streich threw on Nils Petersen in the second half and the SV Werder Bremen loanee almost pulled one back when he fired straight at Karius. Mehmedi did raise hopes of a comeback when he curled in delightfully to make it 2-1, but Malli’s header all but made sure of the points for Mainz, rendering Schmid’s goal a mere consolation.

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