A year ago, Mainz inflicted their first defeat of the season on previously undefeated FC Bayern. Can Mainz cause another surprise on Sunday?
On December 14, 2024, Mainz 05 welcomed league leaders FC Bayern Munich, who were unbeaten after 13 games. The result: A 2-1 win for Mainz and the first Bundesliga defeat for Bayern coach Vincent Kompany. Exactly one year later, the two teams will meet again on matchday 14 (Sunday, 5:30 p.m.). Like last year, the Munich team are unbeaten before the game and are hosting FSV, who are in 18th place in the table with just one win.
Mainz’s successful record – but only in their own stadium
New coach Urs Fischer would certainly have liked an easier opponent for his Bundesliga debut on the Mainz sidelines. Although his team has managed to achieve four wins against the German record champions in the past four years – more than any other Bundesliga club. However, the Rheinhessen team achieved all of these successes in their home arena, whereas the last eight guest games in Munich were lost.
A Mainz victory would be historic
Looking at the current table situation, a win against the Bundesliga leaders would be historic: the last and only away win by a bottom team against the leaders was over 60 years ago, when 1. FC Saarbrücken won 3-1 in Cologne in 1964.
Will Jae-sung Lee be a match winner again?
Mainz coach Urs Fischer is still without a win against FC Bayern in his career. With Union Berlin, the Swiss were able to collect a point against Munich three times. The 59-year-old announced that he wanted to rely on the experienced professionals in the Mainz squad. A possible candidate would be Jae-sung Lee, who scored both goals in the 2-1 win last season and last scored this season in October.
In the Conference League game at Lech Poznan The South Korean was in the starting line-up. In the 1-1 draw, Mainz continued to show their difficulties on offense, but after Nikolas Veratschnig was sent off, they showed fighting spirit and managed to win the point over time.
Nebel and Kohr are missing and closed
In Munich, Mainz will probably have to show a similar show of strength in order to take something countable. Mainz will continue to have to do without Paul Nebel’s actions in the attacking midfield. Nebel is missing, like Dominik Kohr, blocked. It is questionable whether the injured Nadiem Amiri and the captain Silvan Widmer, who was replaced in Poznan, will play. On the Bayern side, Luis Diaz missed the game with a yellow card suspension.
After both teams’ European Cup games during the week, the respective coaches could rotate on Sunday. The fact that a long day of work could await the hundredweight replacement Daniel Batz in the Mainz goal, VfB Stuttgart already felt the effects last weekend. Batz kept the tie in Posen with several saves. The 05ers are hoping for another good day from their keeper on Sunday in Munich.
