Marco Rose has again suffered a small setback with RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga. In Mainz it was only a 1:1.
Marco Rose kept pushing his team forward on the sidelines – but things are not really looking up for RB Leipzig even under Domenico Tedesco’s successor. After two wins in all competitions, the DFB Cup winner only drew 1-1 (0-1) at FSV Mainz 05.
“We showed a reaction after the mixed first half, the second half was good,” said RB defense chief Willi Orban, but quarreled: “We had three or four hundred percent, we have to make more than one goal out of that.”
Marcus Ingvartsen scored the Mainz goal just before half-time (45′), Christopher Nkunku (80′) equalized late in front of 26,100 spectators for the guests from Leipzig. Both teams now have twelve points on the account – at least for RB that’s far too little.
Rose, who returned to his old place of work in Mainz, made several changes to his starting XI compared to Wednesday’s Champions League game against Celtic Glasgow (3-1). Goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi (torn cruciate ligament) was again replaced by Janis Blaswich. This will probably be number one for quite a while – even if RB is about to sign Norwegian Örjan Nyland, like club boss Oliver Mintzlaff before the game sky confirmed.
Mainz – Leipzig: M05 with a better start
In defense, only Orban was allowed to start again. In Abdou Diallo, Benjamin Henrichs and Marcel Halstenberg, three fresh players came into their own.
Leipzig took control early on and tried to set accents, especially on the outside. It took a while for the first chance to score, but it was tough: After a short free kick, Nkunku’s cross landed at Amadou Haidara, who only hit the left post with his header (18′).
As a result, Mainz became bolder and created good scoring chances, especially on the strong right side. But first Karim Onisiwo (23rd) failed because of the strongly reacting Blaswich, just two minutes later Jae-Sung Lee (25th) also just missed.
Mainz now dominated the game and even took the lead with the last action before the break: After a fine pass from Anton Stach, Ingvartsen completed the ball into the far corner (45th).
Mainz also got off to a better start after the break, Leipzig played too imprecisely in the last third. In addition, there was a strong playing Robin Zentner, who made brilliant parries against Nkunku (62nd) and once against Timo Werner (63rd) within two minutes.
The Saxons, who were back in the premier class in Glasgow on Tuesday (9 p.m./DAZN) are required, now increasingly settled in the Mainz half. Nkunku scored his seventh league goal of the season from a cross. But there was nothing more in it.
FSV Mainz 05 – RB Leipzig: The voices
Bo Svensson (FSV Mainz 05 coach): “We got into the game a bit difficult. We played well in the last 30 minutes in the first half, had a lot of action on the ball, even if we didn’t really have many dangerous chances to score. I was satisfied. We wanted to keep playing like this, but it worked Simply not, Leipzig was simply better. It’s also more difficult physically and mentally. We had a good goalkeeper who kept us in the game. We’re happy with the point in the end.”
Marco Rose (RB Leipzig coach): “Of course we would have liked to win, but I think all in all it’s a deserved point for both sides. We came in well and should have led, but then let the game slip out of our hands. Mainz was strong then. We got it shook us again at halftime and played a good second half and scored a nice goal. At the end there was a point that we took with us.”
FSV Mainz 05 – RB Leipzig: The data for the game
Mainz: Zentner – Fernandes (82nd Bell), Alexander Hack, Caci – Widmer (46th da Costa), Stach (86th Fulgini), Kohr, Martin – Onisiwo, Lee (65th Barreiro) – Ingvartsen (65th Burgzorg). – Coach: Svensson
