Anyone arriving late for kick off at the Europa-Park Stadion this afternoon will have missed an early goal for the home side. Just three minutes into the match, Maximilian Eggestein chipped the ball into the middle where Ritsu Doan cleverly dummied it for Michael Gregoritsch. The Austrian had enough time to settle the ball before thumping an unstoppable left-footed shot past Robin Zentner from the edge of the box (3’).

SC head coach Christian Streich spoke about the importance of the early goal, saying after the game “I have faced Mainz for many years now, and it’s always incredibly difficult. The 1-0 really helped us. We wanted to control the game, but didn’t always generate enough pressure up front. If you’re caught in the wrong position, then they are through on goal.”

The coach put his faith in a tried and true starting XI, the same that had started each of the last four matches across all competitions. Mainz, meanwhile, were able to welcome back Jonathan Burkardt, who was a doubt in midweek due to a cut. The Mainz academy product had a decent chance to net the equaliser in the sixth minute, with a header from close range.

A back-and-fourth start to the match saw both sides come close to scoring, with Gregoritsch nearly converting a corner from Vincenzo Grifo (10’) and Anton Stach trying his luck from range (16’). Midway through the half, it was Mainz who slowly began controlling the run of play, but were unable to turn this dominance into goals.

Zentner denies Gregoritsch

Gregoritsch was gifted a golden opportunity to add to his tally, with Philipp Lienhart splitting the Mainz defence with a long ball and picking out the Austrian. While Mainz were looking for the offside call, Gregoritsch stormed towards Zentner, who was able to stick out a foot and deny him his second goal of the afternoon (29’).

Despite having 12 players away during the international break, there was no sign of fatigue to be seen within the Freiburg team, as they hosted the league’s second best away side in 2022/23. In the 37th minute, Doan found Grifo, who played a low cross into the path of Gregoritsch. He redirected the ball towards goal, and had to watch as it crashed off the bar and into the path of Kyereh, who headed home unmarked from inside the goal mouth to give SC a 2-0 lead heading into the break. It was Ghana international’s first ever Bundesliga goal, as well as his first competitive goal for Freiburg.

Mainz the stronger side after the break

Neither side made any changes at the break, with Mainz eager to get back underway. Lienhart needed to make a last-ditch stop to deny Mainz’s top goalscorer Karim Onisiwo in the 48th minute, but he was unable to prevent the Zerofivers from getting on the board three minutes later. Left-back Aarón tapped in a cross from Burkardt to cut the deficit to 2-1.

“We weren’t alert enough in defence on that goal,” said Streich. “Overall, however, we had the better chances.” SC struggled to shake off the half-time slump, and were left chasing the ball for much of the early moments in the second half. Goalkeeper Mark Flekken then did well to deny Burkardt from range (64’).

Mainz’s Zentner didn’t see much action in the opening 23 minutes after the break, but was alert and ready when called upon. He pulled off a quick reaction save to deny Gregoritsch’s header after a free kick into the box from Grifo.

Petersen’s goal-line clearance secures the win

As we’ve often seen from SC this season, the closing minutes of the game were fast and furious. SC captain Christian Günter nearly gave the sold-out crowd at the Europa-Park Stadion another reason to celebrate in the 83rd minute, but was unable to beat Zentner with his shot.

Flekken then did well to claw a free kick from Aarón out of the top corner in the final minute of regular time (90’), before Nils Petersen pulled off a goal line clearance in the 92nd minute to secure all three points for the hosts. “In the end, a 2-2 draw also would have been a fair result,” commented Streich.

SC currently have 17 points on the board, but won’t have long to rest on their laurels. On Thursday, they will welcome Nantes to the Europa-Park Stadion as they looking to pick up more points in the Europa League group stages (21:00 CEST).

Photo: Achim Keller