How it happened
Mainz had the better of the chances and the worse of the result. Bayer 04 Leverkusen won 4-3 at the MEWA Arena after leading by two goals inside nine minutes.
Robert Andrich scored in the 5th minute and Patrik Schick added a second in the 9th. Anthony Caci pulled Mainz level before the break, scoring in the 33rd and 42nd minutes to make it 2-2 at half-time.
Leverkusen went ahead again through Jeff Quansah in the 55th minute, and Moussa Diaby made it 4-2 in the 65th. Mainz kept going and B. Hollerbach scored in stoppage time to make it 4-3, but the match ended there. There were no red cards.
The numbers
Mainz had 23 shots to Leverkusen's 16, but only five were on target against seven for the visitors. The expected-goals count was 2.95 to 1.67 in Mainz's favour. Leverkusen had 53% of possession and Mainz won the corners 4-3.
Caci was the best-rated player on the pitch, with a match rating of 9.5 from 70 minutes. Alongside his two goals he created four chances and had an expected-goals figure of 0.9 of his own.
Andrich followed with a match rating of 8.9 for his goal over the full 90 minutes, and Diaby took 8 from 75 minutes. Goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow made three saves for Mainz and received a match rating of 5.4.
What it means
Leverkusen are fourth in the table with 10 points from five matches, and Mainz are seventh with seven. Leverkusen's ten most recent matches read WWWDWLWWLW, which is seven wins, one draw and two defeats.
The scoreline echoes the previous meeting at this ground. On 18 October 2025 Leverkusen also won 4-3 away to Mainz. Across 41 meetings the sides have drawn seven, with Leverkusen winning 22 and Mainz 12.