Mainz recorded their second straight victory with goals from Jean-Philippe Gbamin, Jean-Philippe Mateta, and Karim Onisiwo seeing off Freiburg with a 3-1 victory in the Black Forest.

Freiburg 1-3 Mainz

Goals: 0-1 Gbamin (6'), 0-2 Mateta (18'), 1-2 Sallai (72'), 1-3 Onisiwo (75')

Mainz got off to an excellent start in the Black Forest, pressing Freiburg’s players and asking serious questions of their defense. An early answer came when Mainz’s Gbamin scored his second goal in as many games with a shot from outside the box. In his previous 62 Bundesliga games, he had scored only once. Only twelve minutes later, his teammate and namesake Mateta nodded in Jean-Paul Boëtius’s cross after a corner. The second goal seemed to jolt the hosts awake and the Breisgauers responded brightly, testing Mainz keeper Robin Zentner with a header in the 28th minute and having shouts for handball in the area waved away a minute later.

The hosts carried their positive energy into the second half and had several shots on target to further threaten the Mainz goal. Freiburg coach Christian Streich replaced Mike Frantz with Hungarian winger Roland Sallai after the break and, following a scramble in the box in the 72nd minute, Luca Waldschmidt saw his shot parried by the Mainz keeper into the path of the young substitute, who slotted home. Sallai wouldn’t be the only substitute to get his name on the scoresheet: Onisiwo, on for first-half scorer Mateta, put the ball in the back of the Freiburg net ten minutes after his introduction in the 65th minute. For the rest of the match, Mainz were content to soak up the pressure and head back north with all three points.

Match stats

Gbamin’s opening goal was his second goal in as many games. In his previous 62 games, he had only scored one.The Ivorian’s goal was Mainz’s first on the road in 340 minutes.Mateta’s goal was his third of the campaign, making him Mainz’s top scorer for the season.This was Freiburg’s first home defeat in five games.

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Line-ups

Freiburg: Schwolow – Stenzel (Höler 73'), Gulde, Heintz, Günter – Frantz (c) (Sallai 46'), Koch, Höfler (Lienhart 86'), Haberer – Kleindienst, Waldschmidt
Unused subs: Flekken, Terrazzino, Ravet, Okoroji
Absentees: Abrashi (fitness), Borello (cruciate ligament), Gondorf (hamstring), Kübler (thigh), Niederlechner (ankle), Stanko (knee)
Coach: Christian Streich 

Mainz: Zentner – Brosinski, Bell (c), Niakhate, Martin – Gbamin, Kunde, Latza, Boëtius (Mwene 82') – Mateta (Onisiwo 65'), Quaison (Hack 88')
Unused subs: Huth, Öztunali, Maxim, Ujah
Absentees: Adler (knee), Baku (foot), Berggreen (muscular), Bungert (calf), Holtmann (foot), Müller (ankle)
Coach: Sandro Schwarz

As it happened

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