Not brilliant, but efficient: Borussia Dortmund defeated FSV Mainz 05 and preserved his chance of a European Cup place. The team of coach Niko Kovac defeated the fourth in the table with 3: 1 (2: 0). As a result, BVB reduced its gap to four points. The fourth -placed Mainz are seven points ahead of Dortmund. In order to save the Bundesliga season at least halfway, the Westphalia now need a large final sprint. The victory encourages this. Before 81,365 spectators in the sold -out Dortmund stadium, Maximilian Beier (39th/72nd minute) and Emre Can (42nd) scored the goals for the hosts. The Mainz, who had previously remained undefeated in the Bundesliga and had scored eleven goals, were too harmless this time. Only Paul Nebel (76.) scored for the team of Coach Bo Henriksen. “Win, no matter how”, Kovac had spent on as a slogan. Even before the game, the 53-year-old had to put a setback away: his best striker Serhou Guirassy failed with muscular problems. BVB never gave some inaccuracies in the game building early. Neither Karim Adeyemi, whose ball was deflected, nor did they bring the ball to the Mainz goal in their experiments. Shots by Julian Brandt and Nico Schlotterbeck fended off 05 keeper Robin Zentner. The Mainz initially limited themselves to defense work and tried to quickly switch to balls. However, the Rheinhessen did not really get dangerous, and the BVB had the fans, which were slowly restless, cheered twice before the breakdown. Adeyemi put it past Beier in the penalty area past Zentner and the 22-year-old only had to push the ball into the empty goal. But that’s not all: Dortmund quickly added. Captain Can headed to 2-0 after a corner of international Nico Schlotterbeck. There was applause for the break. After the change of sides, the Mainz started lively. Driven by U21 international Nebel, they built pressure and pushed the BVB far back. With a double chance of Silvan Widmer and Fog, Dortmund’s goalkeeper Gregor Kobel saved twice brilliantly. On the other hand, hundredweight against the Adeyemi to be stormed freely prevented the third Dortmund goal. After the subsequent corner, however, the 30-year-old was powerless. Again Schlotterbeck flanked heavily and found his buyer in Beier this time. Although shortened fog again for Mainz, Borussia ultimately brought victory over time.
