Mainz 05 spoiled VfB Stuttgart’s successful home game in a wild match. Maxim Leitsch scored in the fourth minute of injury time to make it 3:3 (2:1), shortly after Fabien Rieder had scored what appeared to be the winning goal for the Swabians. Stuttgart were already 2:0 ahead after 15 minutes. The Stuttgart team was particularly annoyed with the referee after the match.
Mainz were completely out of sorts in the first quarter of an hour. The visitors were well served with goals from Enzo Millot (8th) and Jamie Leweling (15th). Before Nadiem Amiri was able to reduce the deficit with a penalty (43rd), Stuttgart could have had a clearer lead – but conceded the equalizer through Jonathan Burkardt (62nd). VfB’s Sturm und Drang did not let up, however: Rieder shot a free kick against the post, from where the ball bounced off the back of keeper Robin Zentner and from there into the Mainz goal.
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After a minute’s silence for the late Christoph Daum, who had unexpectedly led Stuttgart to the championship in 1992, only VfB played. After two very good chances for Deniz Undav, Millot scored in the follow-up. Zentner had previously been unable to parry Chris Führich’s powerful shot.
The visitors’ defense appeared confused in the early stages. As soon as the stormy VfB made the game fast, the defensive structure was no longer correct and huge gaps opened up. Leweling took advantage of the lack of coordination and a mistake by Andreas Hanche-Olsen with a powerful shot to score the second goal.
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An injury break after 21 minutes came at just the right time for Mainz: While Stuttgart’s Pascal Stenzel was being treated, Henriksen called his players together and quickly set up a tactics board. The instructions helped, Mainz now seemed more organized and also managed to get some offensive moves.
Hoeneß angry about referee decisions
Mainz needed outside help to score a penalty: Millot had inadvertently brought Burkardt down with his hand in the penalty area. “I hope that doesn’t look stupid,” said Burkhardt after the game on the Sky microphone and clarified: “I had the feeling that I was going to make a walking error.” A scene that particularly annoyed Stuttgart coach Sebastian Hoeneß: “That’s not enough for me. A very unfortunate decision.” Stuttgart initially seemed hardly impressed, pushed for another goal after the break, but also found themselves increasingly exposed to Mainz’s efforts to equalize.
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And so it happened as it had to from VfB’s point of view: Despite a lot of storm and stress, the ball didn’t want to go into the goal, and then it ended up in the back of the net after a header from the strong Burkardt. Another goal by the attacker (70th minute) was disallowed for offside after a VAR check. Then the wild final phase began, in which Mainz had the last word. But the 3:3 also had repercussions for coach Hoeneß. The Stuttgart head coach complained about contact between the ball and referee Timo Gerach, which should have resulted in a referee’s ball. A conversation with Gerach after the final whistle alleviated the anger, as Hoeneß revealed.