Eintracht Frankfurt dropped World Cup hero Mario Götze and lost 2-1 at local rival Mainz in their Bundesliga derby on Sunday.
Paul Nebel scored both goals for Mainz, grabbing the winner in the 89th minute to set off wild celebrations and deal Frankfurt its second defeat under new coach Albert Riera.
Nebel opened the scoring in the sixth minute before Nathaniel Brown responded for Frankfurt in the 20th, then Nebel fired home the rebound after Frankfurt ’keeper Michael Zetterer saved Nelson Weiper’s header.
Götze’s omission prompted questions for Riera before kickoff, when the Spanish coach asked which of his players should make way for the former Germany star to be in his squad after Arthur Theate, Can Uzun, Younes Ebnoutalib and Ansgar Knauff all recovered from injuries.
“Name me one player,” Riera challenged his pre-game interviewer on broadcaster DAZN. “If I could take 21 players, he’d be included,” The Associated Press quoted him as saying.
“Mario also had some physical problems during the week and wasn’t always at 100%. And I had to make a decision about who the best players for the bench are.”
Götze, who scored Germany’s World Cup-winning goal in 2014, has featured sparingly for Frankfurt this season, making 18 league appearances over 27 rounds and completing only one full Bundesliga game. He didn’t appear at all in Frankfurt’s last two games and seems to have lost some standing under Riera compared to the previous coach, Dino Toppmöller, who was fired in January.
Mainz’ win lifted it six points above St. Pauli in the relegation zone before the Hamburg-based team played Freiburg later.
Also later, Stuttgart had the chance to move third at Augsburg.
