Germany: Bundesliga
★Mainz 05⚽ M. Niakhate (13)
OPEL ARENAFull time1-0Attendance: 10.500
★RB Leipzig
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Mainz shock Leipzig despite several absences
By Rune Gjerulff
Despite having to cope without several important players, Mainz deservedly beat RB Leipzig on Sunday afternoon.
| Mainz coach Bo Svensson. | Photo: GEPA Pictures/Wolfgang Jannach |
Mainz 05 sensationally beat RB Leipzig at Opel Arena despite being without a number of players for COVID-19 reasons.
The home side started on the front foot and came close to opening the scoring through new signing Jae-Sung Lee, who hit the woodwork after just five minutes.
Eight minutes later, Mainz captain Moussa Niakhaté broke the deadlock, poking home after a poor clearance from Nordi Mukiele following a corner.
In Jesse Marsch's first Bundesliga game as RB Leipzig coach, his troops looked destined to equalise just shy of the half-hour mark, but a last-ditch tackle from Mainz youngster Niklas Tauer stopped Christopher Nkunku's shot.
Paul Nebel, another young Mainz player, came close to making it 2-0 just after the break, but was denied by an excellent save from Peter Gulacsi.
The away side then went on to create a few chances at the other end, but Emil Forsberg and Mohamed Simakan weren't able to beat Robin Zentner.
Mainz actually had the ball in the net a second time before the final whistle, but Alexander Hack's goal was ruled out as it was deemed that the ball went out of play before it reached the centre-back.
Leipzig tried to put on the pressure in the latter stage of the game, but ultimately couldn't find the equaliser they needed and thus ended up falling to a sensational defeat.
| Mainz 05 | |
|---|---|
| (3-4-1-2) | |
| 27 | R. Zentner |
| 19 | M. Niakhate (C) ⚽ |
| 16 | S. Bell |
| 42 | A. Hack |
| 30 | S. Widmer |
| 25 | N. Tauer ↪86 |
| 8 | L. Barreiro |
| 3 | A. Martín |
| 26 | P. Nebel ↪89 |
| 29 | J. Burkardt |
| 7 | L. Jae-Sung ↪90 |
| Bench | |
|---|---|
| 1 | F. Dahmen |
| 36 | K. Mizuta |
| 38 | B. Bobzien |
| 15 | L. Kilian ↩90 |
| 35 | S. Fürstner ↩86 |
| 37 | T. Rupil |
| 43 | R. Roesch ↩89 |
| RB Leipzig | |
|---|---|
| (4-2-3-1) | |
| 1 | P. Gulácsi |
| 22 | N. Mukiele ↪82 |
| 4 | W. Orban (C) |
| 2 | M. Simakan |
| 3 | Angeliño |
| 14 | T. Adams ↪64 |
| 44 | K. Kampl |
| 8 | A. Haidara ↪64 |
| 10 | E. Forsberg |
| 18 | C. Nkunku ↪64 |
| 33 | A. Silva |
| Bench | |
|---|---|
| 31 | J. Martínez |
| 11 | H. Hee-Chan ↩64 |
| 21 | B. Brobbey ↩82 |
| 16 | L. Klostermann |
| 32 | J. Gvardiol |
| 7 | M. Sabitzer ↩64 |
| 17 | D. Szoboszlai ↩64 |
| 27 | K. Laimer |
| 37 | S. Raebiger |