Deep in injury time, SCF had a golden chance to win it with a three-on-three situation, but Eren Dinkci was unable to find the cross into the box and sadly, Freiburg could not hit the winner.
SC made three changes to the starting eleven from the 2-1 DFB-Pokal second-round victory over Hamburger SV. Noah Atubolu returned in goal and Ritsu Doan started on the right of midfield after recovering from illness, while Junior Adamu spearheaded the attack. Florian Müller, Maximilian Philipp and Michael Gregoritsch dropped to the bench. Jonathan Burkardt was a surprise inclusion in the starting line-up for the visitors, as he has been struggling with thigh problems recently.
After the heavy 4-0 Pokal defeat to FC Bayern during the week, Mainz started cautiously and largely allowed SCF to have the ball in the early stages. Set pieces were the best route to goal for both sides to start with, but they were still unable to create any real danger. After SC’s first corner on 18 minutes, Patrick Osterhage was calling for a penalty following a challenge in the box, but Benjamin Brand decided not to point to the spot.
Adamu denied by superb Zentner save
“It was the difficult game we’d expected against Mainz,” said Julian Schuster. “They’re very good at closing off the space.” On 25 minutes, Junior Adamu almost profited from an under-hit back pass from Jae Sung Lee, while Christian Günter had to get back to make a last-ditch challenge on Anthony Caci two minutes later.
Freiburg upped the ante towards the end of the first half against the visitors, who remain unbeaten away from home in the league this season. In the 34th minute, Adamu broke free of the Mainz defence after playing a nice one-two with Eren Dinkci, allowing himself a one-on-one with Robin Zentner about 12 yards from goal. The 1.94-metre-tall netminder though made himself big to touch Adamu’s powerful strike just wide off his toe. “You could tell that the freshness wasn’t really there after the busy week we’ve had. We remained patient though and had a huge chance through Junior,” said Schuster after the match.
Bo Henriksen decided to replace Jonathan Burkardt with Armindo Sieb at half time. Julan Schuster stuck with his starting eleven to begin with, and, along with 34,400 spectators at the Europa-Park Stadion, saw a much livelier second half. In the 54th minute, Maximilian Eggestein was played in brilliantly by Vincenzo Grifo, but the midfielder’s effort from the left deflected wide off Dominik Kohr (54’).
Amiri tests Atubolu
Mainz were also more adventurous after the break. On 59 minutes, Phillipp Mwene won the ball in Freiburg’s half and found the arriving Amiri in the box. His low, deflected strike from around 12 yards forced Atubolu into a stunning stop.
Two SC players meanwhile were celebrating milestone appearances in a Freiburg shirt. It was Philipp Lienhart’s 200th competitive game for the club, and the 350th for substitute Chicco Höfler. The experienced midfielder came on for Maximilian Eggestein in the 66th minute to play alongside Patrick Osterhage, who was denied by a Mainz defender after shooting from a promising position following a Günter free kick (71’). Other than a curling effort from Kohr, which was almost unwittingly turned in by Sieb (85’), this was the final chance of the match, as the aforementioned counterattack also failed to result in a goal.
“The positive thing is that, even though we couldn’t score, we still kept a clean sheet,” mused SC head coach Julian Schuster. The draw puts Freiburg sixth in the table with 16 points. Their next match will see SCF take on 1. FC Union Berlin on Friday evening (20:30 CET).