Mainz vs. Stuttgart: Final score 3-1, Mainz score three unanswered in second half

Mainz scored three second half goals to beat Stuttgart 3-1 and vault into fifth place in the table.

Thomas Tuchel’s side were on the front foot from the opening minute in this one with Andreas Ivanschitz doing his best to wreak havoc among the Stuttgart defenders. He forced Sven Ulreich into an early save, and he set up Nicolai Müller who did the same. Mainz pressed for a goal in the first half, but it never came.

However, it was Stuttgart that struck first in the second half. Ibrahima Traore played in a long cross to the far post for Martin Harnik. The Austrian headed it back across the face of goal hoping that a teammate would be there to score, but it was unnecessary. Mainz goalkeeper Heinz Müller flailed at the cross in an attempt to block it, and he deflected it into his own net. Stuttgart took an unlikely 1-0 lead just after halftime.

The lead wouldn’t last, and Mainz equalized seven minutes later. Müller played the ball wide to Zdenek Pospech who returned the favor, and Müller shot past Ulreich to make the score 1-1. Müller and Adam Szalai spent the rest of the match harassing the Stuttgart backline. They made it 2-1 in the 71st minute when Szalai headed the ball on to Müller, and he beat Ulreich again for the lead.

Elkin Soto put the match away in stoppage time with a hard shot from a difficult angle that Ulreich could only get his fingertips to before it hit the back of the net.