The 05ers may have increased their buffer over the bottom three to seven points, but goalkeeper Christian Wetklo reckons the Rhineland-Palatinate outfit "still need another three points" from their final four games to be absolutely sure of survival.
Sporting director Christian Heidel also admitted he was "very, very relieved", but warned: "Anything can happen yet." Heidel, who celebrated his 20-year anniversary at the club on 1 April with a huge party, was ushered into the crowd by Mohamed Zidan after the match, but the league's longest-serving Manager clarified his behaviour was all in check: "I didn't climb on the fence, only the step!"
Mainz's victory was certainly an important one, but it was far from pretty. Goalkeeper Wetklo noted: "It wasn't our best performance, but in our position you can't expect brilliant passing football." Meanwhile coach Thomas Tuchel said: "Our game was full of nervousness, but we were efficient with our chances."
Wetklo described Eugen Polanski's 19th-minute opener from the spot as "the can opener". It served to unsettle Köln, who conceded twice more before the interval through Zidan (31') and Nicolai Müller (37'). Adam Szalai added a fourth early in the second period (54'), but the scoreline hardly reflected the balance on the pitch.
Nonetheless, it's always a good sign when teams can win without performing particularly well, as Tuchel pointed out: "The lads are a lot more relaxed now and of course relieved. They earned the victory with a passionate display. It was our core values that made the difference today."
The 38-year-old had special praise for his two defensive midfielders Elkin Soto and Eugen Polanski: "We worked very hard in front of the back four." Heidel, who has been through "what feels like 15 relegation battles before", added: "Our approach was really quite okay."
Mainz are now in a far more comfortable position heading into the weekend's big match away to Bayern, but Tuchel moved to play down any suggestions that Tuesday's result would inspire his side to another positive result at the Allianz Arena: "Bayern have the advantage - 100 per cent."
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