Some fans of FSV Mainz 05 may have breathed a sigh of relief after Saturday's Bundesliga results.

In view of the clear defeats of Eintracht Frankfurt and SpVgg Greuther Fürth, there was hope that their own core team would not finish the first matchday of the new Bundesliga season as possible bottom of the table after the home game against RB Leipzig.

Even the coach admitted after the 1-0 victory, which was hardly considered possible, that his thoughts during the week were rather gloomy. "We trained twice without knowing what the next day would bring," said Bo Svensson. This uncertainty and the fact that he had to play a game against "a very good team" weighed on him. "I've been struggling the whole week, I was traveling a lot with self-pity." Why now, why after a good preparation, he asked himself. "But then, thank God, I flipped the switch and focused on the things we can do."

Twelve players from the professional squad were missing, eleven because of a corona infection or because they had to be quarantined as not vaccinated, plus Anton Stach, who was still banned.

To make matters worse, the new captain was hardly there in the days before the Leipzig game: Moussa Niakhaté had traveled to France twice during the week because of the birth of his son and had only trained once, as Svensson reported.

"He came back very late on Saturday, and yet he was able to pull off this performance."

Pushed the limits

Like all of his teammates, the central defender went to his limits and beyond the championship runner-up, demonstrated an irrepressible fighting spirit from the first to the last minute, but without forgetting the playful elements. Even in the final phase, when it was expected that the Mainz team would run out of strength - Svensson made the first change in the 86th minute because the young Niklas Tauer was plagued by cramps after an outstanding starting eleven debut - they did not limit themselves to that a defensive battle, but were always looking for gaps and opportunities for their own offensive actions.

To highlight one man from this team would be unfair to everyone else. Unless it's Niakhaté - after all, he had scored the decisive goal. His meanwhile sixth in the Bundesliga, and only two of which he did not score against Leipzig. Among other things, he was involved in the 3-2 home win against RB in the first second round match of the previous season with two goals.

Sure, this time he benefited from the fact that Leipzig defender Nordi Mukiele was not particularly clever when attempting to clear a header from Stefan Bell. But Niakhaté was the first to correctly assess the situation and set out to push the ball over the line at the post. It was the moment when the fans in the arena at the Europakreisel let them forget for the first time that only 10,500 of the 33,000 seats were occupied.

Immediately after the goal, Niakhaté had a jersey pressed into his hand, which he held up to the camera. The letters CIN on the chest stood for his son's name. Or, as the 25-year-old, who doesn't peddle his private life, put it: “The message was for someone who was born this week and is very, very important to me. The gate was for him. "

Niakhaté spoke of an “extraordinary, special week”, and not just because of the new citizen.

Regardless of the difficult circumstances, the team decided not to look for excuses.

“Even if the opponent is Leipzig, it's still an eleven-on-eleven game.

And the people of Leipzig only have two arms and two legs, just like us. ”Whereby: The way the 05er performed against the championship runner-up, the suspicion was obvious that they had grown additional limbs.

Bo Svensson, who cheered the final whistle ecstatically, later praised his French central defender in high tones.

Niakhaté is the team captain for good reason.

“He just brings everything with him, he's a very intelligent boy.

I am happy that he realized that he should also use his quality as a personality. "