Lee Jae-sung gets 2 goals in 4 minutes to lift Mainz out of relegation zone

Football

Published: 12 May. 2024, 10:49 Updated: 12 May. 2024, 18:27

Lee Jae-sung gets 2 goals in 4 minutes to lift Mainz out of relegation zone

Mainz midfielder Lee Jae-Sung celebrates scoring his side's second goal during a Bundesliga match against Borussia Dortmund in Mainz, Germany on Saturday. [AP/YONHAP]

Lee Jae-sung bagged two goals in four minutes to lead Mainz to a 3-0 win over Borussia Dortmund on Saturday, lifting his side out of the relegation zone to sit in 15th place with one game left to play this season.

Starting as a winger in the Bundesliga match at Mewa Arena in Mainz, Germany, Lee put on an impressive performance from the whistle. He pressured goalkeeper Alexander Meyer, snatching the ball and slotting it in to make it 2-0 in the 19th minute after Leandro Barreiro had opened the scoring in the 12th.

Lee added his second four minutes later, finding a spot in the penalty area where he was left unmarked to calmly tape in the third goal.

This is the second time Lee has recorded a double this season after his first against Darmstadt 98 last month, when he also picked up an assist. Saturday’s double brings Lee’s goal count in the 2023-24 Bundesliga to six goals in 28 matches. One more goal will tie his all-time record at seven goals last season.

Lee’s double sealed the 3-0 victory and lifts Mainz to 15th place on the 18-team table. The club is now two points clear of 16th-place Union Berlin, who have played the same amount of games, at 33.

Mainz players celebrate their side's third goal scored by Lee Jae-sung during a Bundesliga match against Borussia Dortmund in Mainz, Germany on Saturday. [AP/YONHAP]

In the Bundesliga, the bottom two teams face relegation to the second division, while the 16th-place team plays a promotion-and-relegation playoff game against a third-place team from the 2. Bundesliga. The winner of the playoff claims a spot in the top tier for the following season.

Last-place Darmstadt already face relegation to the second division, while 17th-place FC Koln still have a chance to avoid direct relegation as they are three points behind 16th-place Berlin with one match left for both sides as of Sunday — although they would need to score at least four goals to beat out the capital side on goal difference.

Dortmund, meanwhile, remained in fifth-place after Saturday’s loss. With Bayer 04 Leverkusen having already locked in the Bundesliga title last month and the DFB-Pokal cup due to take place between Leverkusen and FC Kaiserslautern on May 25, Dortmund cannot win any domestic title this season.

But Dortmund have reached the Champions League final for the first time in 11 years after a victory over Paris Saint-Germain in the semifinals.

Dortmund’s chance of securing the prestigious title is contingent on beating 14-time Champions League winners Real Madrid in the final on June 1 at Wembley Stadium — the venue where they lost the 2012-13 Champions League final to fellow Bundesliga team Bayern Munich.

Mainz will face No. 12 Wolfsburg in their final game of the season next week.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]