Mainz 05 limited themselves almost exclusively to defense in Frankfurt and were close to a point – until Ritsu Doan dribbled away.
With a strong individual action, Ritsu Doan decided the prestigious duel between Eintracht Frankfurt and 1. FSV Mainz 05. In Eintracht’s 1-0 (0-0) victory on matchday 10 of the Bundesliga, the Japanese left two opponents standing and scored the goal of the day.
The Mainz team had previously taken no risks, concentrated fully on defense and only fired their first shot on goal deep in the second half. After the deserved defeat, FSV remains in 17th place, tied with bottom team Heidenheim with five points. Eintracht climbed to seventh place (17 points) and stayed in touch with the top group.
Both coaches change four times
Both teams had a sense of success from the European Cup: Mainz a 2-1 draw in the Conference League against AC Florenz, Frankfurt a 0-0 draw at SSC Napoli. The coaches each rotated to four positions for the Bundesliga duel. Eintracht coach Dino Toppmöller relied on Mahmoud Dahoud from the start for the first time this season; he formed the double six with Ellyes Skhiri.
Frankfurt, actually known this season for offensive spectacles and a porous defense, surprised in Naples with strict defensive tactics. The motto against Mainz also seemed to be not to take too many risks.
Historically few shots on goal in the first half
Mainz obviously had a similar view; like Eintracht, they were committed in the duels, but harmless in the forward play. The result was an exceptionally uneventful first half. The goal-shot statistics were 2-0 for Frankfurt – there had never been fewer shots on goal in a first half since data collection began in 1992.
In addition, the two shots counted were not really clear shots. The only dangerous scene until the break was a Mainz cross from the left corner of the penalty area, which Benedict Hollerbach narrowly missed at the back post.
Jonathan Burkardt barely has the ball
Jonathan Burkardt was also unable to make an impact in the duel with his former club. Frankfurt’s center forward is the Bundesliga’s second-best goalscorer with six goals and Mainz’s record Bundesliga goalscorer (41 goals). On Sunday he only had the ball 13 times in the first half and won only one of his three duels.
Larsson and Bahoya bring momentum
Eintracht coach Toppmöller tried to liven up the game with two changes. Skhiri and Fares Chaibi remained in the dressing room, while Hugo Larsson and Jean-Mattéo Bahoya came on. The latter only needed a few seconds to increase Eintracht’s goal scoring statistics to three, but he was blocked.
As a result, Frankfurt took more and more control and pushed Mainz deep at times. But it wasn’t until Mainz went into a counterattack in the 55th minute that Frankfurt had their first clear chance to score: Bahoya drove the ball forward and played it out to the left to Ansgar Knauff, whose shot went just past the right of the post.
Mainz’s first shot on goal after 75 minutes
In the 75th minute the time had come: After a bad pass from Frankfurt’s Robin Koch, Mainz had some space, which Paul Nebel took advantage of for Mainz’s first shot on goal – he flew past the goal on the right.
Eintracht needed a stroke of genius to overcome the FSV defense. Doan dribbled his way through Sieb and Widmer at the right corner of the penalty area and confidently scored into the left corner. Despite efforts, Mainz was unable to turn the switch and remained without a clear chance to score.
Frankfurt in Cologne, Mainz against Hoffenheim
Frankfurt will be guests at 1. FC Köln on Saturday evening after the international break (6.30 p.m.). Mainz welcomes Hoffenheim on Friday evening (8:30 p.m.).