Christian Clemens gave FSV Mainz 05 a 1-0 home win over Borussia Moenchengladbach, as the visitors succumbed to a second straight Bundesliga loss on Friday.
Moenchengladbach started well, but fell behind in the 21st minute after Ibrahima Traore lost possession. Jairo found Clemens in plenty of space between two Moenchengladbach defenders and the Mainz midfielder let fly from a central position to score on his 100th Bundesliga appearance.
Moenchengladbach missed a host of chances to equalize. Mainz goalkeeper Loris Karius denied Raffael before the break and Lars Stindl failed to set up the well-positioned Traore from the rebound.
Photo: AP
The hosts survived a major scare in the 72nd minute when Stindl’s header was blocked on the line and then Karius somehow got back to block Raffael off the rebound.
“You can call it lucky, but we should not be ashamed of it. The team worked hard for it and did well to hold them off,” Mainz coach Christian Heidel said after his side climbed provisionally to sixth in the standings.
Moenchengladbach have now lost five of their past six competitive games, conceding 19 goals in the process.
“Today, we were without eight players [through injury] and we still played well. So I am looking at the positives,” Moenchengladbach coach Andre Schubert said. “We simply did not score. We had chances, but it can happen in football. We played well, created a lot of chances. We have to keep it up, to keep playing that way.”
LIGUE 1
AP, MARSEILLE, France
Ten-man Olympique de Marseille scored in the sixth minute of second-half stoppage-time to salvage a 1-1 draw against Lille OSC in Ligue 1 on Friday.
Substitute Antoine Rabillard netted the equalizer with the hosts seemingly set for another home defeat having lost substitute Abdelaziz Barrada to a straight red card in the 86th minute.
Despite the one-man disadvantage, the home side surged forward and were rewarded when Rabillard pounced on a rebound after Lille goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama had kept out Paolo de Cegli’s header.
Lille arrived at the Stade Velodrome with Marseille having failed to win any of their previous eight on home soil. Not since a 4-1 victory over SC Bastia in the fifth game of the season had they secured a home league victory.
Marseille started brightly and almost took the lead in the 23rd minute, but for an outstanding save from Enyeama. Mauricio Isla picked out striker Georges N’Koudou on the penalty spot and his effort was beaten away by the Nigerian stopper.
Lille defender Sebastien Corchia made the breakthrough in the 57th minute with a left-footed strike from close range and after Barrada was sent off for a challenge on Lille striker Yassine Benzia, the visitors looked set for all three points.
However, Rabillard’s strike kept Marseille in eighth with 31 points, five clear of Lille in 13th ahead of the weekend’s fixtures.
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