Result: Mainz 3-1 Koln
Date: 25 October 2019
Venue: OPEL ARENA
Mainz got back to winning ways in the Bundesliga after rallying from behind to thrash Koln 3-1 on Friday night.
The hosts made three changes from their narrow loss to Fortuna Dusseldorf, with Bote Baku Adam Szalai and Robin Quaison returning to the side, while the visitors were unchanged from their thumping win over Paderborn.
Koln had a bright start as Simon Terodde opened the scoring in the 14th minute with a strike into the bottom corner after a through ball from Kingsley Schindler.
Sandro Schwarz's charges weren't behind for too long as they found the equaliser in the 21st minute courtesy of Jean-Paul Boetius, who smashed home a strike from the centre of the box.
Mainz almost went to the break with a the lead after Aaron Martin unleashed a powerful strike from range, but goalkeeper Timo Horn smothered the effort and the sides went to the break level.
The hosts were spirited in the early exchanges of the second stanza and went ahead three minutes before the hour-mark courtesy of a wonder strike by Quaison from just outside the box.
Mainz were under pressure in the latter phase, as the visitors were pushing numbers forward looking for the equaliser but they managed to seal the win with eight minutes remaining thanks to Levin Oztunali close-range finish.
The victory takes Mainz up to 13th on the table with nine points, while the visitors remain third from bottom with seven points.
