Beier double helps Dortmund beat Mainz 3-1 for first win in three

Dortmund will face Barcelona in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Apr 9

Borussia Dortmund v 1. FSV Mainz 05 - Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund, Germany - Mar 30, 2025 1. FSV Mainz 05's Danny da Costa in action with Borussia Dortmund's Maximilian Beier REUTERS/Leon Kuegeler

Borussia Dortmund eased to a 3-1 win over visitors Mainz 05 on Sunday with two goals from Maximilian Beier to earn their first win in three league matches as they battle to get back into Champions League contention with seven matches left to play.

Beier tapped in from a Karim Adeyemi cutback in the 39th minute before Emre Can headed in at the far post from a Nico Schlotterbeck corner three minutes later.

Dortmund, who face Barcelona in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie on Apr 9, were without injured striker Serhou Guirassy.

But they added a third goal with a 72nd-minute header by Beier from yet another Schlotterbeck corner to make sure of the win that lifted them to 10th place on 38 points.

Mainz, who dropped to fourth place on 45, cut the deficit with a goal from Paul Nebel four minutes later. The top four teams qualify automatically for the Champions League.

"We knew Mainz would be a tough opponent," said Dortmund coach Niko Kovac. "What was important was that we pushed against them over 90 minutes."

"Every team wants to win every game," added Kovac about their chances of earning a Champions League spot for next season in the seven remaining matches.

"I don't spend too much time looking at the table and I only heard about the other games' results in passing because it does not matter what the others do."

"We have to do our job and we did it today. In the next game against Freiburg we want to win again. But we will have to put in the work because no one will gift us anything."