Borussia Mönchengladbach made a miserable impression in the away game at Mainz 05: The team had no chance and had to let Mainz pass in the table. The duel also left its mark on Gladbach in terms of personnel.
Mönchengladbach’s national player Jonas Hofmann stared in disbelief, the fans of Borussia could only endure it with scorn and ridicule. After a desolate performance, the proud Bayern conquerors were immediately brought back from cloud nine to the hard ground of facts. Only six days after the coup against the German record champions, coach Daniel Farke’s team lost 4-0 (0-1) at FSV Mainz 05 on Friday evening at the start of the 22nd match day of the Bundesliga and remain mediocre. “After a 0: 4 here in Mainz you can say what you want, it all feels shit,” said Gladbach’s Christoph Kramer on the streaming service DAZN: “It makes no sense to talk about anything that was positive.”
In front of 32,500 spectators, Jae-Sung Lee scored in the 25th minute, Marcus Ingvartsen (49th), Ludovic Ajorque (72nd) and Nelson Weiper (90+3rd) for Mainz, who thanks to their first home win against Borussia moved up to seventh place in the table at least overnight with 32 points for seven years. “It feels good, it feels really good again,” said FSV sports director Martin Schmidt.
Mönchengladbach remains ninth with 29 points for the time being, but can be passed further at the weekend. When leaving, it echoed from the ranks of the guest curve: Gladbach is the hottest club in the world. “We made too many mistakes,” emphasized Farke.
What worked against Bayern should also work against FSV. At least Farke trusted exactly the players who started the 3-2 win against Munich. After less than a quarter of an hour it was already 1-0 for Mönchengladbach. In the duel with Mainz, who had equal points up to that point, it took up to the 18th minute for the first shot on goal: however, FSV professional Leandro Barreiro blocked Manu Koné’s attempt.
Gladbach’s Omlin injures his thigh
The Gladbachers did not act convincingly. Keeper Jonas Omlin, who switched to Borussia during the winter change phase for Swiss compatriot Yann Sommer, who had been brought in from FC Bayern, played on the left to Nico Elvedi. He lost the ball in a duel to Danny da Costa deep in his own half. What followed was his well-measured cross inwards and a well-placed header from Lee. The South Korean national player’s fifth goal this year in the league and the lead for Mainz.
But it got even worse for Gladbach. Just a few minutes later, goalkeeper Omlin had to be treated on the pitch. The 29-year-old couldn’t go any further. The right thigh was bandaged and Tobias Sippel, five years his senior, had to work. The veteran was not tested in his fifth competitive game of the season, a shot from Ingvartsen (41st) went over it.
Mainz and goal scorer Ludovic Ajorque embarrassed Borussia Mönchengladbach’s back team umpteen times – or surprised them
Quelle: Getty Images/Lukas Schulze
And on the other side? Nothing happened then. The Gladbachers were just too harmless. Robin Zentner didn’t even have to intervene, who made his first game in the FSV goal this year after his back injury and was again confirmed by coach Bo Svensson as Mainz’s number one ahead of his recently convincing substitute Finn Dahmen. The attacking midfield around captain Lars Stindl was practically ineffective for the guests, who have only been able to land one win abroad so far.
The Gladbach fans who had traveled with them could quickly forget the hope for improvement. Shortly after a Pyro interruption, the visitors tried to play the ball forward from their own half, but only managed to go about 30 meters. This time the right side failed, Ingvartsen was the beneficiary after a rebound from Sippel at the end. Farke responded and brought in another striker in Marcus Thuram. The Frenchman had the goal on his feet a little later, but failed because of Zentner. At the other end, Ajorque aimed better and overcame Sippel with a shot from a tight angle before Weiper also scored. “That rounds off this day of celebration,” said FSV sports director Schmidt.
The Gladbachers have won just one of their eleven away games this Bundesliga season; 4-1 at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim on Matchday 18. Borussia has lost six of the last seven competitive games abroad; five in the Bundesliga and in the DFB Cup in Darmstadt. The foals are seventh in the home table and only 14th in the away table.
