Estonian international Karol Mets made his third Bundesliga appearance since returning from a long-term injury, but his club St. Pauli endured a tough afternoon, falling to a 0-4 defeat against Borussia Mönchengladbach.
The 32-year-old defender, who made his first appearance in almost a year for Estonia against Italy on October 11, has now featured four times for his club since recovering from injury. Mets was substituted three days earlier due to cramp in the DFB-Pokal Round of 32, where St. Pauli earned a dramatic extra-time win over Hoffenheim. Fully recovered, he returned to the starting lineup for today’s Bundesliga clash with Mönchengladbach.
St. Pauli were looking to end several negative streaks – they had failed to score in over 300 league minutes (three and a half matches) and were on a five-game losing run dating back to September 14.
However, it was another difficult outing for the Bremen-based side. Haris Tabaković opened the scoring in the 15th minute and added a second just before halftime. The hosts’ problems continued after the break, conceding twice more to suffer their heaviest defeat of the season, 0-4.
Mets played the full 90 minutes, marking his third Bundesliga appearance of the campaign. St. Pauli now sit 15th in the table with seven points from nine matches, and will look to bounce back next Sunday in an away fixture against Freiburg.
Meanwhile, another Estonian international in Germany, Karl Jakob Hein, remained on the bench for the third consecutive game as his side Werder Bremen drew 1-1 with Mainz.
Hein has made two Bundesliga appearances this season – both coming when first-choice goalkeeper Mio Backhaus was sidelined with injury. Since Backhaus’ return after the October international break, Hein has resumed his role as backup.
Werder Bremen currently sit eighth in the table with 12 points from nine games, and will next be in action on Friday, when they host Wolfsburg.
