“It was a lot of fun for everyone involved”

The MEWA ARENA, which was sold out for the first time in nearly two years, provided the perfect stage for Mainz’s fast and furious performance against record champions FC Bayern, who were crowned Bundesliga champions for the tenth time in a row last weekend. The Zerofivers ran away as worthy 3-1 winners and were especially strong in the first half, when they dominated their opponents. It would’ve been unsurprising if Svensson’s side had scored more than three because they created so many chances throughout the afternoon. “Today’s win over Bayern was no fluke and was fully deserved. We were outstanding for 90 minutes,” said sporting director Martin Schmidt after the game, who was understandably overjoyed. The Mainz fans were also delighted after the final whistle, and stayed behind to celebrate with their victorious players.

“Today we have to sing with the fans,” said Schmidt, who was also delighted with how the team bounced back from a string of poor performances in recent weeks. Although their opponents were not at their sparkling best, Anton Stach was also quick to highlight how his team played “really well” across the 90 minutes.

Reaction to victory over Bayern:

Martin Schmidt: “You have to give the players a lot of credit for bouncing back from the poor results in recent weeks and it’s even nicer that it came against Bayern. We showed how much quality we have as a team today and showed what we can do when we all give it 100%. On the other hand, Bayern won the league last weekend and they looked a bit fatigued because of it. We didn’t come up against the strongest Bayern side today.”

You have to give the players a lot of credit for bouncing back from the poor results in recent weeks

Anton Stach: “It was a lot of fun for everyone involved today and we played really well. We could have scored one or two more. We were also a bit unlucky to hit the woodwork a couple of times. We know how much quality Bayern have in their ranks and we know how dangerous they are. It was really important to get the third goal. We did well throughout the match and were solid at the back.”

“We hurt Bayern’s spirit”

Stefan Bell: “Given how we played today, we could have scored a lot more. It was fully deserved. We were dominant and there wasn’t a period of the game in which we were totally under pressure. We stayed strong and kept mistakes to a minimum. We started the second half a bit deeper and it was in this phase that we got the third. We killed the game and hurt Bayern’s spirit with that goal. You could see how even teams like Bayern struggle to reach peak performance after their celebrations last weekend. That helped us a bit.”