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Michael Gregoritsch (left) celebrates his first goal of the season

Photo: Gerhard Schultheiß / IMAGO / Jan Huebner

In an entertaining Bundesliga match on Matchday 13, one goal was enough to win. SC Freiburg won 05-1 (0-0) at FSV Mainz 0 in the closing stages. The winning goal was scored by Michael Gregoritsch (70th minute), the Austrian's first goal of the season and the end of a long dry spell. Freiburg moved up to eighth place in the table with 18 points. Mainz are second to last (eight points) and still have to worry about staying at the bottom of the table.

Mainz have picked up five points from three games so far under coach Jan Siewert. Accordingly, they went into the game confident, and in the fourth minute they were not far away to take the lead. Ludovic Ajorque's header from a few yards out was denied by Freiburg keeper Noah Atubolu.

Atubolu had the second-worst percentage of saved balls in the league up until that game. But on this day, the 21-year-old was in strong shape. In the 18th minute, he prevented the 0:1 with strong positional play after Leandro Barreiro appeared free in front of the goal after a nice pass from Brajan Gruda. Sepp van den Berg's header was saved by the goalkeeper with a beautiful flying save (45+6).

There was no sign of Freiburg's attackers for a long time, until Ritsu Doan shot on goal from distance in the 23rd minute and missed the first good chance. Four minutes later, things got even more dangerous when Gregoritsch hit the left post from just under 14 yards.

Gregoritsch in bad luck, Gregoritsch in luck

In first-half stoppage time, Gregoritsch was unlucky again, this time a header from the Austrian bounced off the right post. For Gregoritsch, it was the 26th goal without a goal, a negative high in the league. In the previous season, the SCF striker had scored ten league goals.

It got loud in the 65th minute when the fans cheered Jonathan Burkardt's substitution. The Mainz striker had missed the entire second half of last season due to a knee injury and had to be patient for a long time this season as well. It was the 23-year-old's first home game in the Bundesliga since 13 November 2022.

But then another striker took centre stage: Gregoritsch broke his negative streak. After a long throw-in, the Austrian got to the ball and scored from the turn into the far corner (70').

Jan