Leverkusen strike four past Mainz for third win of new season

On a sunny, 16-degree October day in the heart of Rheinland-Pfalz, Bayer 04 Leverkusen (2-1-1, 6th) returned from the international break to take on 1. FSV Mainz 05 (2-1-1, 7th) at MEWA Arena.

Both sides went into this match with an identical record of 2-1-1, with both scoring ten goals over the course of their current campaign; Leverkusen, coached by Carles Martínez Novell, are placed higher because they conceded five goals over that span, while Mainz, led by Urs Fischer, conceded six.

Leverkusen went into this match unbeaten in their previous six meetings against Mainz (4-2-0). The last time that Die Nullfünfer managed a victory was in the 2022/23 season, 3-2 at BayArena – and their most recent home victory against Leverkusen came by the same score in the season prior.

Leverkusen, in white, kicked off the match and would go left to right in the opening term; Mainz, in red, would go right to left.

The hosts’ first chance would come in the third minute, as Sheraldo Becker crossed the ball into the centre of the box from the left side of the Leverkusen third. Phillip Tietz met it with a well-timed header towards the top-right corner, but Mark Flekken had no problem gloving the ball down and punting it upfield.

Afonso Moreira delivered a similar cross on the other side of the field just two minutes later; Philipp Mwene would volley it away from danger, but an even better volley from Robert Andrich would send it back into the box, past a diving Alexander Schwolow and into the top-left corner to give the visitors the early lead.

It would not take long for the visitors to double their advantage. In the ninth minute, Aleix García, in the middle of the ground, supplied a through ball towards Ibrahim Maza; the Berlin-born Algeria international allowed the ball to roll past him, into the lane of an onside Patrik Schick. From there, the 30-year-old Czech striker outmuscled Kacper Potulski on his way to the box before ultimately knocking the ball past Schwolow and into the bottom-right corner.

In the fourteenth minute, Afonso Moreira was brought down by Anthony Caci on the left side of the Mainz third. Instead of crossing the ball into the centre of the box, García decided to go direct, aiming towards the top-right corner; it was met by a well-timed save from Schwolow, who punched it away with both hands.

Nineteen minutes in, Tietz committed a foul for a standing tackle on Miguel Gutiérrez in the seconds following a cleared Mainz corner. Gutiérrez played the ball short to Andrich, who passed back to the Spanish left-back; he knocked the ball slightly out of his reach, anticipating a harsh sliding tackle from Tietz that came just a split-second later. Head official Max Burda had no other option but to hand the first booking of the day to the 29-year-old German striker; Gutiérrez was then checked by the visiting medical staff for a minute and a half, but was deemed able to shake it off and continue playing.

Mainz won a free kick in the twenty-fifth minute after Gutiérrez himself pulled down Caci on the right side of the visitors’ third. Nadiem Amiri delivered a far-post cross; Eric Martel rose to meet it first, attempting for a header towards the top-left corner; it did not test Flekken too much, as he grabbed onto the ball with both hands. Martel would follow with another chance before the half-hour mark, a flying kick on a cross from Mwene that went well wide of the left post.

The hosts would not let up in the minutes that followed. Jarell Quansah would force a corner to the hosts in the thirty-second minute, which was delivered far-post by Amiri. His cross reached Stefan Posch, but the header from the Austrian international was blocked by a light tap from Andrich; that would allow the ball to land in front of Caci, who lifted the ball above Flekken and just under the crossbar to cut the deficit in half.

Both strikers in Urs Fischer’s Mainz 3-3-2-2 would pick up cards by the time that the first half came to a close; on a Leverkusen 6v4 counterattack in the thirty-fifth minute, Becker tracked Maza and, instead of a clean sliding tackle, pulled his uniform from behind.

That would not stop the hosts’ momentum, though – in the forty-second minute, Mwene, at the edge of the box, played the ball short to Amiri in the area. The 29-year-old attacking midfielder then found Caci for a powerful ground shot through the legs of Facundo Medina, past a diving Flekken and into the bottom-left corner to level the score.

Tietz nearly gave the hosts their first lead of the afternoon within the next minute, taking a cross from Becker into the right side of the box and heading the ball just above the right post. This was followed by a header in stoppage time from Kacper Potulski that went just over the bar following a cross from Caci.

Burda would call both teams to the dressing rooms just three minutes later, as Mainz and Leverkusen were level at two after forty-five minutes of work. Shots were 14-4 in the hosts’ favour, 4-3 on target; touches in the opposing area were 17-9 in favour of Mainz. In addition, Mainz finished the opening term with a slightly better pass accuracy, 85 % on 168 completions to 83 % on 205. The only major statistical category in which Leverkusen led was that of possession, at 54 %.

Becker kicked off the second half, with Mainz now kicking left to right; Leverkusen would now go right to left. The hosts would get the first chance of the second term, as Caci would supply Amiri with a ground pass at the edge of the box; the Ludwigshafen, Rheinland-Pfalz-born attacking midfielder would have a go at the top-left corner, but missed the left post by a few metres.

That near miss would cost Mainz within the next five minutes. Maza made his way into the centre of the hosts’ penalty area, flicking the ball towards Schick. The Czech international brought the ball down, but it appeared to hit his hand on the way to Quansah. The initial flick towards the centre of the goal from the English right-back was pawed away by Schwolow, but he headed the rebound over the line and into the bottom-right corner to give the visitors the lead. After a two-minute consultation with VAR officials Pascal Müller and Christian Fischer, who did not see any purposeful handball contact, Burda awarded the goal to Leverkusen – leaving the hosts, and especially Urs Fischer on the touchline, quite surprised by the decision.

Leverkusen would not look back from there, as in the sixty-third minute, Gutiérrez sent a long ball from the edge of the visiting penalty area into the middle of the field. From there, Moreira took possession and darted to the edge of the box, eventually knocking it short to Moussa Diaby; the 27-year-old Frenchman then sent a thundering shot above Schwolow and into the top-left corner to double the lead for the visitors.

The last half-hour of the match was midfield battles, for the most part. Neither side would see a notable chance until the eighty-seventh minute, when a header towards the bottom-left corner from Mainz substitute Ransford Königsdörffer went just wide of Flekken and out of play.

Mainz would make the match a little more lively in the second minute of stoppage time, thanks to another substitute, Benedikt Höllerbach – who took advantage of an unfortunate Medina deflection of a Kaishu Sano lob in the centre of the box, ultimately smashing the ball into the centre of the net. Time would run out on the hosts to get a late equaliser, and Bayer 04 Leverkusen would run away with all three points in a seven-goal thriller, winning this one by four goals to three.

Leverkusen outshot Mainz in the second half, 12-9, 4-1 on target – with 51 % possession and a pass accuracy of 87 % on 225 completions, compared to 81 % on 199. The visitors also managed more touches in the opposing penalty area, 17-16. Overall, Leverkusen managed 53 % possession and took more shots on target, 7-5; they also slightly led the pass accuracy category, 85 % on 433 completions to 83 % on 367. Mainz had more shots in total, 23-16, and managed more touches in the opposing penalty area, 33-26.

Mainz will make the trip north to Nordrhein-Westfalen, taking on FC Schalke 04 next Saturday at 15.30 (CET). Leverkusen will make the trip to Poland to face Lech Poznań in UEFA Europa League action on Thursday at 18.45 (CET); they will then return home to face SC Freiburg next Sunday, with kickoff set for 15.30 (CET).