28th matchday
Mainz sluggish but undefeated – Baumgart criticizes the referee
Cologne’s captain Jonas Hector (r) in a duel with Mainz’s Silvan Widmer. photo
© Marius Becker/dpa
Mainz remains undefeated, Ajorque scores and scores and now Bayern come along. Cologne scores for staying in the class.
The new Mainz goalscorer was very satisfied. “It’s the ninth game in a row that we haven’t lost. We’re on a good run,” said Ludovic Ajorque, the new winter signing who signed for six million euros.
The Frenchman scored in the third game in a row and secured the winning streak for Rheinhessen with his goal in the 1-1 (1-0) win over 1. FC Köln. Now the 29-year-old also wants to annoy the German record champions next weekend. “We want to give our all in front of our own crowd and score as many points as possible,” explained the Frenchman, who made it 1-0 early (17th minute) before Dejan Ljubicic (51st) scored the deserved equalizer for the hosts.
Sports director Martin Schmidt was very happy with the performance of the massive striker. “He launched the dangerous actions and he also scored the goal. The rate is right for him. He underlined that again today,” said Schmidt. “He brings us this point today and is a very important player,” emphasized the Mainz sporting director after the somewhat lucky draw for Mainz.
“Today we were a bit sluggish, we’ve done better. But every point we have is important,” said captain Silvan Widmer. Coach Bo Svensson also agreed with the criticism – even if Mainz keep in touch with the European Cup places. “We had a really hard time today after the good start.”
Baumgart found the referee “not exciting”
At the end of the day, Steffen Baumgart had calmed down again. Immediately after the final whistle, the Cologne coach ran angrily onto the field and towards referee Benjamin Cortus. “I didn’t find what the referee whistled for today that exciting. I complained about that and that’s why I deserved the yellow card today. But his direction had nothing to do with our performance,” said Baumgart. In the hectic final phase, the referee lost the game a little. “I found a few things difficult, like the yellow cards against Florian Kainz and Jonas Hector. That bothered me,” explained Baumgart.
He could be satisfied with the performance of his team, who had to do without the suspended leader Ellyes Skhiri and could have won the game in the end. Skhiri representative Ljubicic scored at least the deserved compensation. “If we take our chances, we’ll leave the field as winners. You didn’t see today that Mainz is the third-best team in the second half of the season,” said Cologne defender Timo Hübers. Managing Director Christian Keller was also very clear: “We should have won the game. That’s annoying.”
With 32 points, the people of Cologne are not yet saved, but they shouldn’t really be in danger of relegation. “The point helps us,” said goalscorer Ljubicic. He had once again caused a cheer from the Cologne supporters among the 50,000 spectators after the last three goalless home games.