Mainz edge Gladbach 4-3 as Becker leads seven-goal thriller

FSV Mainz 05 scored four times away from home and still needed a stoppage-time penalty to beat Borussia Mönchengladbach 4-3 at Borussia-Park. Sheraldo Becker was at the centre of it with a goal, an assist and a match-high rating of 9, while Isac Lidberg added another key goal in a game that never settled for more than a few minutes.

Bundesliga.com summed up Borussia Mönchengladbach vs FSV Mainz 05 neatly: "There was drama aplenty at Borussia-Park on Saturday, as Gladbach and Mainz served up a wild seven-goal contest that eventually resulted in a merited 4-3 victory for the visitors."

Becker and Lidberg drove Mainz's best attacks

The headline numbers sit with Becker. He finished with 1 goal and 1 assist, directly shaping half of Mainz's scoring, and the game report gave a good explanation for why his impact felt bigger than the raw total. Bundesliga.com wrote: "Becker set up Tietz's equaliser and then headed home Mainz's second goal himself right before half-time, capping a first half in which he broke free from every pressure situation he faced."

That first-half swing mattered because Gladbach had struck first through Florian Neuhaus in the 11th minute. Mainz responded through Phillip Tietz on 18 minutes, then Becker turned the score again at 45+1. In a game this open, Mainz's best forwards were more decisive in the key moments.

Lidberg's contribution should not get lost behind Becker's. He scored in the 59th minute and posted a 7.9 rating, the only player besides Becker named in the top end of Mainz's individual numbers. When the match became stretched, Lidberg gave Mainz another runner Gladbach struggled to contain.

Mainz were not just throwing players forward and hoping. Their 2.32 xGoals suggests a side that made good chances and finished them well. Four goals from that total points to clinical work in both boxes, especially compared with the chaos around them.

Gladbach had chances but wasted a turning point

Gladbach were well in this match for long spells. They scored three times and generated 3.22 xGoals, so this was not a case of one-way traffic. Still, their biggest opening from the spot went begging.

A VAR review gave the hosts a penalty, but Kevin Diks hit the post. In a 4-3 game, that kind of miss is hard to dismiss as a side note. Gladbach had enough threat to punish Mainz, yet their best chance to seize control disappeared with that strike off the woodwork.

The home side were also operating with some disruption before kick-off. Interim head coach Jan-Moritz Lichte made four changes to Gladbach's starting XI, and Diks wore the captain's armband in the absence of the suspended Tim Kleindienst. That does not excuse conceding four, but it helps explain why the game looked disjointed at times when Mainz attacked quickly.

Even so, Gladbach kept finding a way back into the match. Eric Martel scored in the 78th minute and Danny da Costa made it 3-3 in the 89th, which should have been enough to rescue a point from a frantic finish.

The late penalty settled a match that never calmed down

Instead, Mainz still had one more moment left. Shuto Machino converted the winning penalty at 90+5, sealing the away side's fourth goal and ending a contest that had already swung through almost every version of chaos.

The full scoring line tells the story clearly: Neuhaus on 11 minutes, Tietz on 18, Becker at 45+1, Lidberg on 59, Martel on 78, da Costa on 89 and Machino from the spot at 90+5. Mainz's attacking trio of Becker, Lidberg and late substitute Machino supplied the moments that carried the result.

Gladbach can point to the volume of chances they created, and 3.22 xGoals is a serious return. The better read from this match is that Mainz were more ruthless when the big moments arrived.

At the final whistle, the result still read Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-4 FSV Mainz 05, with Becker the standout and Machino's stoppage-time penalty the final swing.