Amir Abrashi (L) of Freiburg vies with Jean-Philippe Mateta of Mainz during the Bundesliga match between FSV Mainz 05 and SC Freiburg in Mainz, Germany, April 5, 2019. Mainz won 5-0. (Xinhua/Ulrich Hufnagel)
BERLIN, April 5 (Xinhua) -- Jean Philippe Mateta's hattrick helped Mainz return to winning ways after crushing Freiburg 5-0 at the curtain raiser of the 28th round in Bundesliga on Friday.
Freiburg grabbed a bright start on the road and came to two chances in the opening period when Pascal Stenzel tested Mainz goalkeeper Florian Mueller twice.
The hosts meanwhile needed some time to gain a foothold into the game but opened the scoring out of the blue with 20 minutes played after Jean-Paul Boetius capitalized on a misplaced clearance from Freiburg goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow to open the scoring into the empty goal.
Freiburg were shocked whereas Mainz gained momentum to double the lead six minutes later when Boetius through ball allowed Mateta to beat onrushing Scholow from sharp angle.
Mainz staged a clinical chance conversion and continued offensively minded as Mateta wrapped up his brace after scoring the 3-0 lead from very close range in the 33rd minute.
After the restart, Mainz handed over control to Freiburg, who increased the pressure but lacked in accuracy in front of the goal as custodian Muller denied Stenzel and Luca Waldschmidt.
The visitors controlled the ball but were unable to make the most out of it meanwhile Mainz were not done with the scoring as substitute Karim Onisiwo made it 4-0 in the 73rd minute before Mateta sealed his hat rick after putting the result beyond doubt four minutes later.
With the result, Mainz recover from a four-game losing streak to move to the 12th position in the standings. Freiburg suffered their 10th loss of the season to slip to the 13th place in the standings.
The following fixtures are scheduled for Saturday: runner up Bayern Munich encounter front runners Borussia Dortmund for the top clash, Schalke face Eintracht Frankfurt, Bayer Leverkusen clash with Leipzig, Hertha Berlin see newly promoted Fortuna Dusseldorf and Hannover travel to rivals Wolfsburg.
