Lech Poznań - 1. FSV Mainz 05 1:1

The league phase of the Conference League is slowly coming to an end. For their final home game of 2025, Lech welcomed a German Bundesliga team to Poznań. The autumn round in the German top division hasn't been a successful one for Mainz. The team, taken over by Urs Fischer just four days before the match against Lech, currently sit at the bottom of the table. In the Conference League, however, Die Nullfünfer have been performing much better and are in eighth place, which currently guarantees a spot in the round of 16.

From the first whistle, Lech were very active and looked for an early goal. Luis Palma and Ali Gholizadeh both had chances to score, but unfortunately, their shots were off target. The missed opportunities took revenge on the hosts when, in the 27th minute, the guests created a threat to Lech’s defensive line. Sota Kawasaki took advantage of the chaos and confusion inside the hosts’ box and beat Bartosz Mrozek to open the scoring. Just a few minutes later, the German side found the net again, but fortunately for the hosts, a VAR review revealed an offside. Shortly before half-time, the referee awarded Lech a penalty kick following a foul on Palma and a handball. Captain Mikael Ishak confidently converted the set piece into an equaliser. Both sides continued to push for another goal before the break, but without success.

In the 67^th minute, Nikolas Veratschnig received a red card for a foul on Pablo Rodríguez, and it became the turning point of the match. From that moment on, Lech took complete control of the game. They pinned their opponents back in their own half and had several goal attempts, but none found the back of the net; hence, the match ended in a 1:1 draw.

Lech still have one final Europa Conference League match to play this year, which will ultimately decide whether they will compete in the later stages of the European competitions in the spring. At present, Frederiksen’s side is 20th in the table, with 7 points in their account. On Thursday, December 18th, (9:00 PM), Lech will face SK Sigma Olomouc in a decisive away clash.