Bayern Munich vs Mainz: Bundesliga Matchday 25 Preview
1. FSV Mainz
It certainly has not been smooth sailing for Mainz this year in the Bundesliga. Jan Siewert was sacked on February 12 after managing just one win in the club's last twelve games. The club hired Danish manager Bo Henriksen from FC Zurich and the Dane has taken four points from his last three games, only failing to claim points in his match against Leverkusen. Mainz find themselves 17th in the table, and Henriksen will be looking to make up the one point needed to overtake Koln for the relegation playoff position when his side travels to Munich on Saturday.
Despite the absolute howler against Leverkusen by Robin Zentner, he was very good against Monchengladbach and should continue in goal. Defender Dominik Kohr picked up a red last matchday and will miss the encounter in Munich. This means a back three of Sepp van den Berg, Joshua Guilavogui, and Anthony Gaci is likely to start at Allianz Arena.
Silvan Widmer should start as the right wingback with the Austrian Phillipp Mwene starting opposite him on the left. Centrally, Leandro Barreiro will be serving a suspension for yellow card accumulation, so Tom Krauß will start alongside Madiem Amiri.
Brajan Gruda will start with the South Korean Lee Jae-sung as the two attacking midfielders in Mainz's 3-4-2-1 set-up. Jonathan Burkardt got the start centrally last week and was able to help Mainz claim a point against Monchengladbach, so I expect to see him again in the starting XI against Bayern.
Mainz Predicted Starting XI
Zentner
van den Berg-Guilavogui-Gaci
Widmer-Krauß-Amiri-Mwene
Gruda-Jae-sung
Burkardt
Score Prediction
Bayern Munich 2-1 Mainz (Kane; Tel)
I really do not know what to expect from this team. We get subpar performances, then put together a good result. The good result is then followed by a performance that leaves you absolutely questioning every decision made by Tuchel. With the side having arguably their best performance under Tuchel on Tuesday, I hope that the team can ride that momentum into a match against a struggling Mainz side. However, Mainz is desperate, and a much better team than their 17th-place standing shows. With two starters out for Mainz, surely this is a match Bayern can continue to build some momentum.