Leverkusen's Grimaldo clears Mainz with free kick - the excitement remains!

Leverkusen's Grimaldo clears Mainz with free kick - the excitement remains!

In the prestigious duel of the Bundesliga, Bayer 04 Leverkusen won the top game against the 1st FSV Mainz 05 with 1-0. The decisive goal scored Alejandro Grimaldo in the 48th minute through a directly converted free kick. It was Grimaldo's first Bundesliga goal, and he also hit a free kick three times in the league, twice of it against Mainz. This performance consolidated Leverkusen's impressive series of ten competitive victories in a row, such as sueddeutsche.de reported.

However, the game started for Mainz with a setback: Jonathan Burkardt, captain and striker, left the field due to injury in the third minute. His replacement Armindo Sieb had difficulty stabilizing the game. Despite a strong defensive of the Mainz, there were several opportunities for Leverkusen, but they were always thwarted by goalkeeper Robin Zentner. Zentner, who is 1.94 meters tall and almost 100 kg, had to parry some good shots, including Patrik Schick and Florian Wirtz, like Bundesliga.com holds.

the game

Xabi Alonso, coach of Bayer Leverkusen, made four changes in the starting eleven before the game. He recognized the importance of free kick and the associated mentality in football by emphasizing that it is more important to achieve results than just playing well. Granit Xhaka added that the current team was clever and experienced, and clearly differed from that of the previous year.

After the tour, Mainz was forced to act more aggressively. The biggest chance for the Mainz was in the 50th minute by Jae-Sung Lee, whose shot was also parried by Leverkusen's goalkeeper Matěj Kovář. Zentner kept his team in the game until the final phase when he reacted heroically against Jeremie Frimpong and Nathan Tella. In added time, Mainz coach Bo Henriksen first received the yellow card due to repeated ball paths, followed by a yellow-red card (90.+1), which further exacerbated the frustrating situation for Mainz.

table and outlook

Leverkusen consolidated his second place in the Bundesliga table with the victory, while Mainz can be found in the middle of the table with only four wins from 17 games. In the current ranking, Bayer is in second place with 38 points, behind Bayern Munich, who lead the table with 39 points. These figures illustrate the current competitiveness of the two teams and the pressure under which Mainz stands while Leverkusen begins to show leadership in the league.

The season still has numerous challenges for both teams. Leverkusen will try to continue her course, while Mainz urgently needs points to get rid of the lower half of the table.