Mathenia against FCK! The Nuremberg keeper makes the next brilliant appearance. The offensive continues to worry “Club” coach Weinzierl.
Kaiserslautern (dpa / lby) – The goosebumps atmosphere on the sold-out Betzenberg only spurred Nuremberg’s goalkeeper Christian Mathenia to top performances. The 30-year-old goalkeeper was once again the outstanding man in the Franconian team. The fact that the “club” remained 0-0 in Kaiserslautern for the third time in a row without conceding a goal in the 2nd Bundesliga was solely due to Mathenia.
“I’m happy that I was able to help the team today. In the last three games we defended well. Today the team needed me,” said Mathenia after his brilliant performance.
The team needed their goalkeeper mainly because there was nothing going on up front in the storm. About three weeks after coach Markus Weinzierl took office, the harmless offensive department is still the big construction site in Nuremberg’s game. Nuremberg have only scored three goals in the past six league games. Not enough to get a big lead on the relegation places.
“We allowed too many chances today and were lucky and kept a clean sheet with Mathenia. It’s still a point. But we couldn’t have gotten any better than that today,” analyzed midfielder Fabian Nürnberger.
After the game on Saturday started about ten minutes late due to a large crowd of spectators, the 46,895 spectators in the Fritz-Walter-Stadion saw the game at an average level. Both teams put the majority of their energy into good defensive work.
Kaiserslautern created a few chances after the break, but failed again and again due to Mathenia. The Nuremberg keeper deflected Kenny Prince Redondo’s shot (50′) to the post, and he fished Philipp Klement’s long-range attempt (71′) out of the right corner. As the season progressed, the duel between the traditional clubs developed more and more into a duel between Kaiserslautern and Christian Mathenia.
An alleged hand penalty by the Palatinate was taken back in the 80th minute with the help of video evidence because a Lauterer played the ball with his hand. Both traditional clubs are currently in the middle of the table.
