Hamburg move out of Bundesliga relegation zone with Mainz victory

Updated: May 17, 2023, 06:26 am
Rafael van der Vaart celebrates his vital goal for Hamburg.
liver Hardt/Getty Images

Hamburg moved out of the Bundesliga's bottom three with a comfortable 2-1 win over a Mainz side who have now gone six games without a win.

Cleber and Rafael van der Vaart scored a goal in each half, but it could have been more for Josef Zinnbauer's dominant Red Shorts, who reduced the deficit on their opponents to just a single point.

Shinji Okazaki grabbed a late consolation for Mainz, but there was no more than that in the game for Kasper Hjulmand's men.

Victory - Hamburg's third in a row at home -- lifts them back above Borussia Dortmund and two points clear of the relegation zone.

Cleber was named as the man to deputise for Heiko Westermann during his injury-enforced absence, but he soon made it clear that he is more than just a bit-part player.

The Brazilian defender gave Hamburg the lead after half an hour, showing persistence to take advantage of some slack Mainz defending and sweep his second shot in after his first was blocked.

It was a deserved lead for Hamburg, who had gone close through Lewis Holtby and even closer through Nicolai Muller, who had beaten Mainz goalkeeper Loris Karius but not Daniel Brosinski.

Cleber had clearly got a taste for scoring as he tried his luck from fully 40 yards, missing the target but showing how desperate Hamburg were to win.

Muller wasted another two good chances, first missing the target and then shooting straight at Karius.

Van der Vaart made it two 10 minutes into the second half when Nikolce Noveski handled the ball inside the penalty area, and the Dutchman sent Karius the wrong way from the spot.

Holtby and Pierre-Michel Lasogga wasted further opportunities for Hamburg and they were almost made to pay the price when Okazaki headed in off the underside of the bar in the 90th minute to give the visitors a sniff late on.

They almost grabbed an equaliser with Yunus Malli's long-range effort only just going over Jaroslav Drobny's goal and Okazaki's header missing the post by inches in stoppage time, but Hamburg held on.