Mainz dominate 10-man Köln and jump to 3rd
Mainz took advantage of several early Luca Kilian mistakes to absolutely destroy Köln 5-0 on Friday night.
Köln had no answers after Luca Kilian was sent off in the first half and especially struggled to contain Mainz's Karim Onisiwo. With the 5-0 win, Mainz claimed their first home victory of the year and now temporarily move to 3rd in the Bundesliga table.
To start things off, a dangerous Onisiwo run earned Mainz a penalty after Kilian's foul. Marcus Ingvartsen converted the penalty in the 11th minute to give Mainz an early 1-0 lead off Kilian's mistake. Things got even worse for Köln in the 27th minute.
Kilian again unnecessarily fouled Onisiwo and shoved him out of bounds for his second yellow card of the game. With the numerical advantage, Mainz began to dominate and extended their lead through Dominik Kohr in the 35th minute.
But, Bo Svensson's side were hungry for more. Mainz added a third with Anton Stach's strike just a few minutes later for a 3-0 advantage heading into halftime.
Florian Kainz nearly converted a stunning free-kick to begin the second half, but his effort hit the post. Steffen Baumgart urged his players on from the touchline, but they had already fallen too far behind.
Onisiwo drew another foul and Aaron Caricol scored a super free-kick in the 73rd minute for the 4th. Shortly thereafter, Onisiwo earned himself a well-deserved goal to close out the contest.
The scoreline could've been far worse for Köln with several Mainz goals overturned in the second half.
Mainz face Bayern on Matchday 12, while Köln will look to turn things around against Slovacko and Hoffenheim next week.