Bruno Labbadia made just one change to the side which drew 4-4 in Dortmund, with captain Serdar Tasci returning to replace Maza. The hosts had the control over the tie in the first half but found themselves a goal down with just seconds played. Georg Niedermeier fouled Julian Baumgartlinger as Mainz launched their first attack and, following consultation with the linesman, referee Manuel Gräfe awarded a penalty, which Ivanschitz coolly converted to make it 1-0 for Tuchel’s eleven.

Unperturbed by going behind, and fired on loudly by the home fans, VfB pressed back FSV in the first half and created a number of openings. The first of those opportunities fell to Tamas Hajnal, who duly made it 1-1. Taking on a pass from William Kvist, the Hungarian international jinked past his marker in the penalty area and curled the bar into the far left corner to make it 1-1 – a score-line which would stand at the break.

Ibisevic’s flying header puts VfB in front

Right from the re-start, VfB took control of proceedings once again and were rewarded for the invested effort when a Gotoku Sakai delivery found Vedad Ibisevic powering through at the front post to make it 2-1 with a flying header. Mainz held their own and created openings, but the best of those fell to Eugen Polanski, who failed to really test Ulle. Shortly afterwards, Georg Niedermeier caused a problem for his own side with a miscued attempted clearance, but luckily for the hosts, Adam Szalai was unable to capitalize.

The action continued, with Martin Harnik being bowled over by Nikolce Noveski in the box, but the referee was unimpressed and allowed play to continue. At the other end, Sven Ulreich made a strong save from an Ivanschitz shot. Just minutes later, the referee was in focus again, this time awarding VfB a penalty after a collision between Elkin Soto and Harnik. Kuzmanovic took on the responsibility and drove the ball home powerfully to make it 3-1.