13th matchday
Victory in Mainz: Freiburg ends mini-crisis
After his hat-trick in the Europa League, Freiburg’s Michael Gregoritsch (2nd from right) also scored in the Bundesliga. photo
© Torsten Silz/dpa
Europa League participants SC Freiburg can still win in the Bundesliga. However, the victory in Mainz is a happy one.
Thanks to a goal from Michael Gregoritsch (69th minute), the Breisgauer team scored 1-0 (0-0) in front of 30,300 spectators after four games without a win in a row and moved up to eighth place in the table with 18 points.
Mainz remains penultimate in a relegation zone with eight points. The 05ers had previously recorded one win and three draws under Siewert, who took over from Bo Svensson at the beginning of November.
Because Mainz goalkeeper Robin Zentner had to miss out due to a finger injury, Daniel Batz made his second Bundesliga appearance between the posts after eleven and a half years. The 32-year-old made his debut in May 2012 – wearing the Freiburg jersey.
Initially, SC keeper Noah Atubolu came into focus. The 21-year-old saved his team from falling behind early on a header from Ludovic Ajorque (4th) and later made a strong save against Brajan Gruda. Shortly beforehand, Ajorque had once again missed Mainz’s lead when he chased the ball just over the Freiburg goal from five meters.
In the middle of the first half, the guests, who had shone 5-0 against Olympiakos Piraeus in the Europa League during the week, had their first chances. Ritzu Doan’s shot was missed by Batz, who had luck on his side a little later when Gregoritsch shot off the post.
Between these two scenes, the guests had to accept a personnel setback in the fast-paced and entertaining game. Central defender Matthias Ginter had to leave the field injured after 24 minutes; Manuel Gulde came on to replace the national player.
In stoppage time in the first half, the Breisgauers sniffed the lead again. After a wide cross, Gregoritsch got to the ball in front of Batz, but only headed it onto the outside post. On the other hand, Atubolu saved against Sepp van den Berg. So it went into the break goalless.
After the substitution, Mainz pressed, but the redeeming goal refused to come despite several opportunities. During this phase, Freiburg hardly got out of their own half and did not carry out any organized offensive actions.
The guest tour therefore came as a surprise. Gregoritsch came to the ball in the penalty area by chance and gave Batz no chance with a low shot into the corner. In the final phase, the home team threw everything forward again, but they were unable to equalize.