Bundesliga
Mainz pulled level with Werder Bremen on 15 points for the season thanks to a 2-0 win at the Wohninvest Weserstadion, with Marcus Ingvartsen and Jae-sung Lee on target for Bo Svensson’s men.
Werder Bremen 0-2 Mainz
Goals: 0-1 Ingvartsen 36’ (assist: Da Costa), 0-2 Lee 66’ (assist: Stach)
A hero of Bremen’s promotion back to the top flight last season, Marvin Ducksch has been going about his business in the shadows of Niclas Füllkrug’s headline-grabbing goalscoring exploits this season, though he did get in the first shot of this game, with a deflection taking his early effort over. Füllkrug squandered a chance from an even better position, uncharacteristically snatching at the ball with much of the goal to aim at, and just one covering defender in the way. The entire Mainz team have collectively managed just one goal more than Füllkrug’s eight this season, and their lack of an attacking threat lasted until half an hour in, when Leandro Barreiro’s shot brought a fine save out of Jiri Pavlenka. There was nothing Pavlenka could to to keep out Ingvartsen’s header from a Danny Da Costa cross as the guests took the lead.
Bremen coach Ole Werner gave his team 15 minutes of the second half to convince him they could turn things around, but with just one Füllkrug header and a Pascal Groß effort to show, he turned to Niklas Schmidt for inspiration. Inspiration instead came from Lee, who slotted in a second for Mainz after Anton Stach danced his way around the back of the Bremen defence and teed up the South Korean. Ducksch was denied an immediate reply as the game inevitably opened up, with Bremen showing more urgency. Schmidt skewed a shot inches wide of the far post, summing up Bremen’s afternoon as the game entered into its final ten minutes, and time swiftly ran out for the hosts, who were beaten on home soil once again by a team whose away record is the best in the division.
Bremen: Pavlenka - Pieper, Stark, Friedl (c) - Weiser, Schmid (Burke 73'), Groß (Stage 73'), Gruev (Schmidt 62'), Jung (Buchanan 73') - Füllkrug, Ducksch
Unused subs: Zetterer, Dinkci, Goller, Agu, Chiarodia
Out: Bittencourt (ill), Mbom (Achilles), Rapp (thigh), Salifou (groin), Veljkovic (thigh)
Coach: Ole Werner
Mainz: Zentner (c) – Da Costa, Fernandes (Tauer 8'), Hack, Aaron – Kohr (Caci 76'), Barreiro (Barkok 88'), Stach - Lee (Fulgini 76') - Ingvartsen (Burkardt 68'), Onisiwo
Unused subs: Dahmen, Burgzorg, Bobzien, Shabani
Out: Leitsch (exhaustion), Mustapha (thigh), Widmer (thigh)
Coach: Bo Svensson