Wolfsburg held on for a point in a 1-1 draw with Mainz despite being a man down for over an hour on Saturday.
Mainz vs. Wolfsburg: Final score 1-1, Ten-man Wolfsburg hold on for point
Wolfsburg went down to ten men after a half hour, and they held on for a point on the road against Mainz.
Mainz grabbed the 1-0 lead after only five minutes through Niki Zimling. Adam Szalai intercepted a clearance from Sebastian Mielitz and ripped a shot on target that was blocked by Alexander Madlung. The rebound bounced right back out to Szalai. The forward saw Zimling open and passed the ball to him, and Zimling finished his chance.
It took Wolfsburg only ten minutes to find the equalizer. Jan Polak crossed the ball into the box, and the centerback Naldo made it up the pitch to head it into the back of the net.
Wolfsburg were reduced to ten men in the 30th minute after Madlung was shown a red card for a foul on Nicolai Müller.
From that point on in the match, it became all about how Szalai couldn’t beat Mielitz for the winner. He missed a handful of chances throughout the remainder of the match, with a majority of them being just off target.
The point failed to bring Mainz closer to their goal of overtaking Hamburg and Freiburg for a Europa League place. Wolfsburg failed to gain any significant traction in their bid to move further away from the relegation zone.
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