n a first half largely dominated by the home side, Marcus Thuram was at the heart of all things positive for Mönchengladbach. Setting his sights with a wayward early strike, the 25-year-old continued to go close, next seeing two quick-fire shots blocked by a combination of the Mainz defence and goalkeeper Robin Zentner.
The Frenchman tormented the visitors’ backline, rattling the crossbar with a curling left-footed strike midway through the half. In disbelief at his luck in front of goal, the forward’s luck worsened when a square pass to teammate Florian Neuhaus was intercepted by a last-ditch Maxim Leitsch sliding block. Further chances came and went for Thuram, whose frustrations at the break were mirrored by the Mönchengladbach faithful as the hosts somehow entered HT on level terms.
See stats from the match at Flashscore
Lacking a clinical edge in the first half, Mönchengladbach’s wastefulness would cost them early in the second, when a crazy two-minute period saw the home side reduced to 10 men and fall a goal behind. Despite the Mainz attacker starting his run from an offside position, last man Ko Itakura saw red for dragging Karim Onisiwo down as it was a Mönchengladbach player who had last touched the ball. From the resulting free-kick, Aarón Martín made no mistake, bending home an unstoppable left-footed strike to give the visitors an unlikely lead.
A bitter blow for a Mönchengladbach side that had come so close to taking the lead on a number of occasions, yet Die Fohlen continued to push for a route back into the match. It almost arrived via Jonas Hofmann, who had broken the Mainz defensive line with a run into the box, only to scuff his shot at the vital moment.
For Mönchengladbach, this is yet another disappointing result against Mainz, with the side from North Rhine-Westphalia now winless in their last four meetings against Die Nullfünfer. Daniel Farke will be particularly disappointed with the manner of the defeat given the opportunities his team had, but he will have seen enough to know they can bounce back immediately.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Aarón Martín (Mainz 05)
