What the papers say: ‘Completely lost the plot’

“Late satisfaction” is the headline in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung above the assessment from a Mainz perspective. The report continues: “Justice won out in the end although the Bundesliga match between fourth-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen and next to bottom Mainz 05 ended in 2-2 draw. But the team from Rhinehessen were able to feel like winners at the end of the game: not only because the gap to third from bottom Arminia Bielefeld has been cut to three points but also because of their courageous burst in the final minutes after a superior performance in the second half that enabled them to level after being unlucky to go 2-0 down.”

The online edition of the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger comes to the following conclusion: “Bayer 04 Leverkusen suffered another serious setback in their race for a Champions League finish. On Saturday, the Werkself only managed to secure a 2-2 draw against next to bottom FSV Mainz 05 despite going 2-0 up. The visitors earned a point because they were able to exploit Leverkusen’s many deficiencies in the second half – even if very late.”

The Bild am Sonntag describes the reason for the absence of Joachim Löw: “The national coach had a breakdown en route! The journey from Freiburg to Leverkusen (around 450 kilometres) ended after just 140 kilometres. His company car packed up on the A5 autobahn near Karlsruhe – his VW was losing fluid! The breakdown service needed two hours to get the car going again. Too late to ensure getting to Leverkusen in time for the kick-off.”

Hradecky: Longest run in the league ends

The Bild am Sonntag reports a remarkable statistic about Lukas Hradecky who was substituted at half-time because a problem with his heel: “Lukas Hradecky (31) played 86 Bundesliga games in succession in goal for Leverkusen. The current longest run for a player ended against Mainz due to injury.”

The report in the Express comes to the following conclusion: “The Werkself were punished for an average performance against an aggressive and battling team from the bottom end of the table with a late equaliser at 2-2.”

The online edition of the Rheinische Post reports: “Bayer Leverkusen had everything under control for 45 minutes but completely lost the plot in the second half. The goals scored by Lucas Alario and Patrik Schick were not enough for the Werkself to beat next to bottom Mainz. ...On balance, it was a deserved point for Mainz.”

The online edition of the kicker talks about a “deserved away point” for Mainz: “A double whammy in the final minutes: Svensson’s sub robs Bayer of the victory. Substitute Glatzel went completely unnoticed by the Leverkusen defence as he turned the ball onto net from a cross from Niakhaté with the sole of his boot to pull a goal back (89’). And there was more: Mainz scored an equaliser despite being 2-0 down on 89 minutes – and the strike came from another of Svensson’s subs. Sven Bender cleared a cross from Bell to the feet of Stöger who rounded off the drama perfectly – 2-2 (90+2’).”