Kohr: “The perfect response to the Leverkusen game”

The Mainz players and coaching staff were delighted after their win over Gladbach on Sunday afternoon. It’s the Zerofivers’ fifth away win in a row in all competitions and there were some memorable performances all round. Dominik Kohr, who made an incredible last-ditch tackle in the first half, and Aaron, who scored a dream free kick, were the stand-out performers. Bo Svensson was full of praise for his side after the game: “A huge step in the right direction in terms of how we play.”

Reaction to win over Borussia Mönchengladbach

Martin Schmidt: “It’s going well on the road at the moment. Our confidence, our demeanor and our approach are all really good. If you look at our away wins this season, you can see that they were all deserved and have come about due to courageous performances. We set a high-line in the first half, we closed down well and that means that losing possession is always dangerous. Dominik Kohr’s slide tackle was a huge moment in winning this game today. It was great that we could beat Yann Sommer with Aaron’s free kick in the second half. It needed a special moment like that, otherwise we wouldn’t have scored past the Switzerland number one.”

Bo Svensson: “It was a huge step in the right direction in terms of how we play. I saw the Mainz 05 DNA on show in the final 20 minutes. We had a plan of action in mind, we stayed positive and got a lot out of it. Our build-up play was good, we had a good spacial awareness but we couldn’t quite create those clear-cut chances in the final third. That led to the counter-attacks we had to face every now and then. Dome’s sliding tackle was as important as a goal because it had symbolic value. It also wasn’t a bad free-kick. It’s great that it all came together today.”

Stefan Bell: “In the first half there were big chances for both sides. We had some by winning the ball, but they also had one or two through us losing possession. Gladbach’s chances often came from counter-attacks and one came through an individual error, but Dome saved the situation perfectly. I think that we were the better side for the first 70 minutes but maybe the substitutions changed the game a little bit. We maybe became a bit tentative and Gladbach piled on a lot of pressure in the final stages. They had too much space to play in. We also had some good chances to get the second goal but we just lacked that cutting-edge. But all things considered, this was a step in the right direction.”

Dominik Kohr: “We needed a reaction from the Leverkusen game because that wasn’t a Mainz 05 performance. We have shown today that we can beat anyone if we have the right mentality, even if not everything is perfect. I am delighted that I could help the team with that slide tackle.”

Silvan Widmer: “We wanted to perform today and bring that intensity that has always set us apart. We did that right from the start but we became a bit passive after Ko Itakura’s red card. There was a sudden sense of insecurity. In the first half we played well, we pressed high and created some chances. That was pretty decent.”