Amadou Haidara (L) of Leipzig controls the ball under the defense from Karim Onisiwo of Mainz during a German Bundesliga match between RB Leipzig and 1.FSV Mainz 05 in Leipzig, Germany, Sept. 20, 2020. (Photo by Kevin Voigt/Xinhua)
BERLIN, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- Goals from Emil Forsberg, Yussuf Poulsen and Amadou Haidara helped Leipzig make a winning start after beating Mainz 3-1 in the opening round of Bundesliga on Sunday.
The "Bulls" staged a powerful start on home turf and pressed the "Nullfunfer" onto the back foot.
Mainz goalkeeper Robin Zentner had to be on guard to defuse Dani Olmo's effort in the 4th minute before Marcel Halstenberg headed just wide from a promising position four minutes later.
The host's efforts paid off with 17 minutes played as Mainz' Leandro Barreiro fouled onrushing Dani Olmo inside the area. Forsberg broke the deadlock with a well-placed shot from the spot into the bottom right corner.
Julian Nagelsmann's men gained momentum and doubled their advantage only four minutes later when Dani Olmo had sufficient space at the edge of the box and chipped the ball into the path of Poulsen, who headed the ball over Zentner.
Mainz were unable to put up resistance but were lucky enough that Forsberg rattled only the woodwork in the 31st minute and Angelino hit the side netting from tight angle before the half time.
The visitors caught a bright start to the second half though as Robin Quaison's perfectly timed through ball allowed Jean-Philippe Mateta to halve the deficit against the run of the game in the 48th minute.
Leipzig, however, responded straight away and pressed Mainz on the back foot to restore their two-goal lead three minutes later as Haidara made no mistake to tap home Forsberg's square pass.
The third goal took the wind out of Mainz' sails as Zentner had his hands full of work. Dani Olmo should have made it 4-1 but Zentner denied him at the hour mark.
The goalkeeper protected his side from a bigger defeat after neutralizing the chances from Angelino and substitute Christopher Nkunku in the closing stages.
"We were highly motivated today, and we are ready to battle for the top spots in the Bundesliga," said Forsberg.
"We played too passive and were not aggressive enough in the tackles," Mainz sporting director Rouven Schroder said. Enditem
