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Unlucky defeat in Mainz
Personal & tactics:
Head coach Sebastian Hoeness made two changes to the starting XI that lost 3-2 against Borussia Dortmund last time out. Stefan Posch replaced Chris Richards and played alongside Kevin Vogt and Benjamin Hübner in a back three protecting goalkeeper Oliver Baumann. Ihlas Bebou and David Raum kept their places out wide, while Dennis Geiger again partnered Angelo Stiller in the middle of the park, with Andrej Kramarić further forward in a slightly more attacking role. Georginio was given the nod this time and played alongside Munas Dabbur up top.
TSG made a double switch around the hour mark, with Florian Grillitsch and Christoph Baumgartner replacing Hübner and Dabbur (62). Posch also had to go off injured and was replaced a minute later by Håvard Nordtveit (63). In the closing stages, Fisnik Asllani and Jacob Bruun Larsen came on for Bebou and Stiller (84).
Moment of the match:
Double blow: first David Raum played a misplaced pass, which led to Jae-Sung Lee scoring for Mainz out of nothing (79), then Moussa Niakhate slotted home from the penalty spot four minutes later to kill the game.
Number of the game: 2
TSG struck the woodwork on two occasions. Those attempts from Georginio and Munas Dabbur, which both hit the post, mean Hoffenheim have now hit the woodwork 14 times this season – a league high.
Line-ups:
1. FSV Mainz 05: Zentner – Bell, Hack, Niakhate – Widmer, Stach (Stöger, 89), Aaaron – Barreiro (Lee, 67), Boetius (Kohr, 67) – Burkhardt (Szalai, 87), Onisiwo (Burgzorg, 87)
TSG Hoffenheim: Baumann – Posch (Nordtveit, 63), Vogt, Hübner (Grillitsch, 62) – Bebou (Bruun Larsen, 84), Geiger, Stiller, Raum – Kramarić – Dabbur (Baumgartner, 62), Georginio
Goals: 1-0 Lee (79), 2-0 Niakhate (pen., 83)
Match highlights
Big chance in the opening minutes: Kramarić crosses perfectly from the left towards Georginio, but his header strikes the post. Zentner is rooted to the spot.
Mainz are getting better and more dangerous: Burkhardt heads a cross from the left narrowly over.
Lovely attack from TSG: Kramarić plays it out to Raum, who crosses into the middle. Zentner misses the ball but Dabbur unfortunately heads over.
More bad luck: Raum crosses perfectly into the middle and Dabbur does brilliantly to win the aerial battle, but his attempt rebounds off the inside of the post and away to safety.
The next big opportunity to take the lead: Raum's cross from the left slides through to the back post, where Bebou is unmarked but hits the side-netting. That could have been the opener.
Mainz's biggest opportunity comes following a corner: the ball somehow falls to Onisiwo, who shoots wide of the mark from close range.
Kramarić almost finds the net at the other end: the Croat attempts to meet a Raum cross with a diving header but the ball sails millimetres wide of the upright.
Raum misplaces a ball into the centre and is punished immediately: Onisiwo squares the ball to Lee, who keeps his cool in front of goal and fires home off the underside of the crossbar.
A shot from a Mainz player is blocked following a corner-kick. The video assistant intervenes and awards a penalty for handball. Niakhate steps up and fires emphatically into the top left corner.
Match facts and statistics »
