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Ten-man TSG earn hard-fought draw
Personnel & tactics:
Head coach Sebastian Hoeness made six changes to the side that started the 2-0 victory away at Slovan Liberec on Thursday. Kevin Akpoguma and Stefan Posch returned to the defence and played alongside Kasim Adams and Ryan Sessegnon in a back four in front of goalkeeper Oliver Baumann. Diadie Samassékou and Dennis Geiger were also reintroduced to the line-up and played in the middle of the park alongside Florian Grillitsch and Christoph Baumgartner, while Andrej Kramarić partnered Ihlas Bebou in attack.
TSG made their first substitution in the 54th minute, with Robert Skov replacing Grillitsch. The Dane slotted into the attack, with Kramarić dropping back into midfield. Sebastian Rudy and Munas Dabbur replaced Baumgartner and Bebou on 77 minutes. Kramarić then made way for Mijat Gaćinović in the final seconds (90).
Moment of the match:
To everyone's surprise, Dennis Geiger was shown a red card for a tactical foul on Onisiwo in the 80th minute. There was no chance of him getting the ball and it was certainly a cynical challenge, but the TSG midfielder did not go in overly hard on his opponent.
Number of the game: 12
TSG Hoffenheim have now scored at least one goal in 12 consecutive Bundesliga matches against 1. FSV Mainz 05. It is their longest ongoing scoring run against another Bundesliga club.
Line-ups:
1. FSV Mainz 05: Zentner – St. Juste, Hack, Niakhaté – Öztunali (Burkhardt, 70), Barreiro, Fernandes (Kunde, 79), Brosinski (Aaron, 86) – Boetius (Stöger, 86), Quaison (Onisiwo, 79) – Mateta
TSG Hoffenheim: Baumann – Posch, Adams, Akpoguma, Sessegnon – Samassékou – Geiger, Baumgartner (Rudy, 77), Grillitsch (Skov, 54) – Bebou (Dabbur, 77), Kramarić (Gaćinović, 90)
Goals: 1-0 Quaison (33), 1-1 Bebou (62)
Red card: Geiger (serious foul play/80)
Match highlights
A cross from the left is only half-cleared by Adams and the ball falls to Mateta in the penalty area, who heads goalbound. But Baumann makes the save at full-stretch and thwarts the danger with a fingertip stop.
TSG are having the better of the game but the chances are falling to Mainz. Fernandes cuts the ball back from the byline towards Boetius, but Baumann is on hand to make another strong save.
TSG's first chance comes from a free-kick. Posch meets Geiger's cross at the back post, only for Zentner to keep his close-range header out with a strong save.
The ball is played forward to Mateta, who does well to hold off Adams. Boetius gets to his backheeled pass before Akpoguma and then tees up Quaison to slot the ball into the back of the net.
Baumgartner does brilliantly to win the midfield battle and then has the vision to find Bebou. The forward shoots from a promising position but fires straight at Zentner's face and the chance goes begging.
Next big opportunity: Posch fizzes the ball into the centre from the right flank and Baumgartner meets it on the volley, but Hack clears from inside the six-yard box with Zentner beaten.
Kramarić spots Sessegnon in space on the left flank and the Englishman delivers a low cross into the middle towards Bebou, who scores with the outside of his boot.
Mateta easily gets the better of Adams on the counter-attack and goes through one-on-one against Baumann, but strikes the post. TSG got lucky there.
Match facts and statistics »
