Freiburg add further misery to Mainz | OneFootball

Freiburg scored twice inside the first 20 minutes against Bayern Munich last week, and they also started this one on a high note. From a classic route one football, Lucas Höler beat Lasse Rieß with a superb finish. Unfortunately for Freiburg and the 31-year-old striker, he was narrowly offside while doing so.

Mainz didn’t escape the second opportunity in the 12th minute, though. Robin Zentner’s understudy denied Philipp Lienhart after a corner-kick, but Lukas Kübler was on the goalline to score from the rebound with ease.

It was nearly two in 20 minutes, but Rieß and Kacper Potulski blocked Niklas Beste and Vincenzo Grifo’s back-to-back shots. However, the second goal did come with Grifo leveling Nils Petersen’s record thanks to Höler’s unselfish play. The former Italian international scored his 69th Bundesliga goal for the club.

A couple of minutes later, Paul Nebel saw a straight red card for a harsh challenge on Lienhart. Including two from the record holder Dominik Kohr, it was the fifth time Mainz’s coach Bo Henriksen had to deal with setting up his team with such a disadvantage.

If there was any doubt about Freiburg keeping a two-goal lead for once, the red card ended it. Rieß prevented a third goal with his shoulder when Stefan Bell was about to score in the wrong net. Bundesliga’s basement team finished the first-half with no attempts on goal.

Johan Manzambi further ended the game as a contest five minutes after the restart following a brilliant one-two with Yuito Suzuki. The Swiss youngster scored his first two Bundesliga goals in back-to-back games. Before the hour-mark, the Japanese midfielder nearly added a goal to his assist.

Suzuki’s compatriot Sota Kawasaki made a remarkable last-ditch clearance to deny Beste’s first-ever Freiburg goal as the hosts continued to push for more goals. Substitute Igor Matanovic also missed a decent chance 15 minutes before the end.

That was followed by Manzambi’s fantastic finish, but Mainz were saved by VAR once again due to Matanovic’s bizarre involvement from an offside position. Mainz finished the game with one attempt, and they conceded the fourth in the 90th minute as substitute Patrick Osterhage scored his first league goal of the season from Matthias Ginter's assist with a header.

Freiburg climbed to eighth after their first back-to-back home win of the season. Mainz dropped to the bottom place for the first time this season. Henriksen’s side only collected two points from seven games away from home.

Freiburg will face another relegation-threatened club next weekend with a trip to Heidenheim following their cup tie against Darmstadt. Mainz will host Borussia Mönchengladbach in the opening fixture of matchday 13 next Friday.