Mainz return to winning ways

Mainz secured their first Bundesliga win since November after three goals in the opening 17 minutes earned them a 3-1 win over 10-man Freiburg.

Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting put the home side ahead in the third minute and three minutes later Eugen Polanski doubled Mainz's lead from the penalty spot in an incident that also saw Freiburg defender Fallou Diagne was sent off.

Choupo-Moting netted his second and Mainz's third 11 minutes later as the hosts looked on course to record a huge win, but they were unable to add to the scoreline after that and bottom club Freiburg managed to pull a goal back through Pavel Krmas in the 68th minute.

Nevertheless, the result saw Mainz pick up their first league triumph since their shock win over Bayern Munich back in November.

Mainz could hardly have dreamed of a better start as they had the points all but wrapped with only a quarter of the match gone.

Red card

They took the lead when Elkin Soto claimed possession in midfield before passing forward to Polanski, whose through-ball found Choupo-Moting for an easy finish from 14 yards out.

Mainz were then awarded a penalty moments later as Diagne took down Adam Szalai in the area and was shown a red card. Polanski stepped up to the spot and put Mainz further ahead with a shot into the right corner.

Choupo-Moting struck a second time in the 17th minute, running onto a pass by Marco Caligiuri and beating Freiburg goalkeeper Oliver Baumann to the far left corner.

With the points virtually secured, Mainz did not push forward much thereafter as Freiburg looked to mainly avoid conceding more goals.

The visitors finally had a good chance in the 68th minute and took advantage of it with Krmas slotting in Michael Lumb's corner.

Freiburg's goal woke up Mainz, but Baumann turned over Nicolai Muller's long-range effort in the 70th minute and Choupo-Moting shot wide right three minutes later as the match finished 3-1.