Mainz reflect on ‘yet another magical European evening’ after latest Conference League win | OneFootball

Although Mainz 05 continue to struggle in the Bundesliga (second to last place in the table), Bo Henriksen’s Rheinhessencontinue to dazzle in the 2025/26 Conference League. A 2-1 home win over ACF Fiorentina last night helped the Bundesliga outfit maintain a spotless record in the UECL group stage. Mainz have won all three of their Conference League fixtures. 

Just as was the case two weeks ago, Henriksen’s team ultimately gave the sold-out crowd what their consistent support deserved. The team overcame a 0-1 deficit to score two second-half goals. Mainz attacker Jae-Sung Lee headed home the dramatic late winner at 90+5. Both head coach Henriksen and squad captain Nadiem Amiri were absolutely euphoric afterwards. 

“I’m very relieved,” Amiri told RTL afterwards. “We didn’t play the prettiest football today, and had to invest a lot. I’m overjoyed now as one sees what’s going on over there [with the FanKurve.] We’re glad that our efforts were rewarded. I don’t know if Mainz has ever beaten such a big opponent at home. This one will go down in the history books.”

“It was just one of those magical evenings,” Henriksen remarked in his own RTL interview. “We’re happy to have been able to achieve this result and celebrate with our fans. It was a tough opponent, but we never lost the belief in ourselves. We played a solid opening 15 minutes, then delivered 15 minutes of catastrophe, and then we slowly got back into the game.

“For me, the most important thing is heart,” Henriksen continued. “We demonstrated heart today. When one has heart, anything is possible. We’ve been missing these emotions. The biggest moment of my coaching career is the day we avoided relegation [at the end of the 2023/24 campaign], but today was also important.

“Moments like these are nevertheless what football’s all about,” Henriksen concluded. “We love football because of scenes like this [Henriksen, like Amiri, gestured toward the FanKurve]. We love it. We simply love it.“

GGFN | Peter Weis