Berlin (Germany) Nov 6: Silvan Widmer's late leveler secured Mainz a share of the spoils with Borussia Monchengladbach at the curtain raiser of the 11th round in Bundesliga on Friday.
The "Nullfunfer" took over from the kick-off and came to presentable chances through Jonathan Burkhardt, who came close in the 15th and 23rd minute.
The flow of the game got disrupted through due to two injury substitutions as Elvedi and Breel Embolo was unable to continue.
The visitors then shocked Mainz out of the blue as goalkeeper Robin Zentner blocked Ramy Bensebaini's shot into the path of substitute Florian Neuhaus, who latched onto the rebound to break the deadlock in the 38th minute.
Monchengladbach controled the proceeding and should have added another goal to its lead but for all that Bensebaini and Marcus Thuram lacked in accuracy before the break.
After the half time Mainz assumed immediately control and pressed Monchengladbach on the back foot as Sommer had to be on guard to defuse Lee Jaesung's long-range shot with one minute into the second half.
Mainz pressed frenetically but Sommer seemed insuperable after neutralizing promising efforts from Lee and Burkardt at the hour mark.
The host eventually got rewarded for their efforts in the 76th minute when Widmer curled a clearance from Kouadio Kone into the top left corner.
Monchengladbach tried to find and answer but the Mainz' defence stood firm and extend its unbeaten run to four games in the league.
With the stalemate, Mainz stay on the 5th position of the Bundesliga standings meanwhile Borussia Monchengladbach climb on the 9th spot for the moment.
The following fixtures are scheduled for Saturday: front runners Bayern Munich meet in-form Freiburg for a top clash, Leipzig encounter runners-up Borussia Dortmund, Wolfsburg face Augsburg, Stuttgart take on bottom side Arminia Bielefeld and newly promoted Bochum host Hoffenheim.
Source: Xinhua