A lot of courage beats strong individual players: With the 1-0 (0-0) away win, FSV Mainz 05 caused the first setback for Borussia Mönchengladbach under coach Daniel Farke.
A wonderful free-kick from Aarón (55th minute) that was directly converted against ten Borussia players ensured Mainz's fourth away win in a row.
The team of coach and ex-Borussian Bo Svensson thus equaled the club record that the Rheinhessen team had achieved under Thomas Tuchel in the 2010/11 season. "Fortunately, there will be another away game next week," said 05 sports director Martin Schmidt on the DAZN streaming service, smiling, looking at the game on Saturday at TSG Hoffenheim.
First Gladbach defeat under Farke
With ten points now, FSV has moved past the undefeated Gladbachers in the Bundesliga table to fifth place. With eight points remaining, Borussia fell back to ninth place after their first defeat under Farke.
Immediately before Mainz's winning goal, Gladbach's strong central defender Ko Itakura received the red card for an emergency brake against Karim Onisiwo from Mainz. "I see I'm the last man and accept that with thanks, I have to be honest," admitted the striker.
Bitter for the Gladbachers, where Farke had not included Julian Weigl and Nathan Ngoumou in the starting eleven: Borussia should have been in the lead by then.
Top scorer Marcus Thuram became a tragic figure instead of a match winner. The Frenchman fired seven of Gladbach's eight shots on goal in the first half. "I think there was a lot in it," said Bundesliga returnee and international Weigl, who watched the game from the outside until he was substituted on in the 87th minute. "A lot of things that decide football weren't on our side today."
Thuram, who was initially almost unstoppable, missed the greatest opportunity after a good half hour when he didn't use an air hole from ex-Bochumer Maxim Leitsch. Approaching the strong Mainz keeper Robin Zentner alone, the attacker thought for too long, served weakly by Florian Neuhaus - Dominik Kohr was able to clear one of the countless tackles from Mainz that day. This was too much for Thuram, who was not seen again after that.
Uncomfortable and strong-running Mainzer more consistently
The Rheinhessen improved compared to the 0: 3 against Bayer Leverkusen last weekend. "In the first half you could see that there was a lot of courage in it and that we didn't come here and put ourselves in the back," said Schmidt.
And so the guests played rustically and aggressively on the defensive and straightforward in attack from the start. Borussia found it difficult to develop their controlling ball possession game. "If you're toxic and release at the right moment, then you can steal balls there. And we did that well," said Onisiwo.
Despite the many good opportunities for Thuram, Gladbach coach Farke was angry at his team's performance. For the first time in his time as coach on the Lower Rhine, his team lost because the uncomfortable and strong Mainz team were better that day.
