Flop in the league, top in Europe: The struggling Bundesliga team FSV Mainz 05 gained some self-confidence in the Conference League with its second win.
Led by U21 national player Nelson Weiper, the Rheinhessen also defeated Zrinjski Mostar from Bosnia-Herzegovina 1-0 (0-0) and are clearly on course for the knockout round with six points from two games.
Weiper scored in the 24th minute for coach Bo Henriksen’s team, which is in third-to-last place in the league with just four points from seven games.
After the early red card against Mostar’s Igor Savic (38th), Mainz could have won much more. At the start there was a 1-0 win against Omonia Nicosia in Cyprus.
“We have to defend better. That’s the most important thing in football,” Henriksen said before the game, given the eight goals they’ve conceded in two games. To do this, the Dane turned on the rotation machine a lot: compared to the 3:4 against Bayer Leverkusen, he changed the starting eleven to nine positions.
Video: Bad kick from behind! Mainz outnumbered Mostar
Despite the changes, Mainz were clearly superior from the start in front of 30,200 fans, but didn’t make enough of it.
Weiper took the best chance of the first half, first hitting the post and then finishing in his second attempt. After a hard kick from Savic against Ben Bobzien, Mainz were in the majority for a long time.
Even after the break, the FSV made far too little use of its superiority.
Because the champions from Bosnia-Herzegovina, who had won 5-0 against the Lincoln Red Imps from Gibraltar at the start, hardly had any chances, the victory was not really in danger. An initially whistled foul penalty for Mainz (81′) was withdrawn after checking the TV images.