Champion candidate RB Leipzig experienced a disappointment at the start of the Bundesliga and lost at the Corona-Notelf of FSV Mainz 05.
The new coach Jesse Marsch and his highly traded team surprisingly lost 1-0 (0-1) on Sunday and, in addition to a possible departure of captain Marcel Sabitzer, also have to fear a false start in the league.
In front of 10,500 spectators, defense chief Moussa Niakhaté (13th minute) scored the decisive goal for the 05er, who were badly affected by quarantine cases.
While the team of coach Bo Svensson sent a real rump team to the field without ten professionals, Marsch initially did without Sabitzer, who is repeatedly associated with FC Bayern. "I thought that the team played well and confidently last week," commented the head coach. "But Sabi is ready from the bank." To simply leave the actually set leadership figure from Austria outside still seemed like a signal before the last two weeks of the transfer window.
Shortly before the kick-off, it was quiet in the stands in Mainz. The two clubs spontaneously organized a minute's silence for German football legend Gerd Müller, who died on Sunday. Only then did the fans get going in the best summer weather, in a way they weren't allowed to do for a long time due to the corona. And the strongly decimated Mainz team gave their performance all sorts of reasons to be enthusiastic with a passionate start.
After just five minutes, Jae Sung Lee put a header on the post, with the following margin, Paul Nebel aimed just wide of the mark. At first it was not at all noticeable who the ambitious Champions League starter with the 28-goal man André Silva and who is the plucked relegation candidate. "The disadvantage is huge," said head coach Svensson after a total of 14 people on the team were quarantined this week. The chaos apparently only welded the Mainz team closer together.
The opening goal by captain Niakhaté was only logical after Leipzig kicked the ball in an uninspired and flawed manner at high temperatures. After a corner, Nordi Mukiele made a disastrous ricochet in the penalty area, at the second post the best positioned Niakhaté only had to complete. From then on, the 05er audience cheered every successful action and above all a daring tackle by Niklas Tauer, who prevented tempo dribbler Christopher Nkunku from finishing in the best position at the last moment and with the greatest risk.
The half-time conclusion of the championship runner-up from Saxony was accordingly sobering. Without captain Sabitzer and Spain's long-time player Dani Olmo, the creative moments were missing, newcomer Silva has so far only been involved in the fast-paced football game when he had to rush back into his own sixteen for Mainz standards.
After the change, the guests put their opponents more and more on the defensive, but the offensive trio with Silva, Nkunku and Sweden's EM star Emil Forsberg simply lacked the space. If the rare breakthrough succeeded, 05 goalkeeper Robin Zentner was always on hand. It was only in the 64th minute that Marsch brought his captain in a triple change. Shortly afterwards, Silva (72nd) had his first real chance, but Zentner reacted brilliantly. In stoppage time, the Portuguese headed just over the gate - then it was over.