Leverkusen Beat Mainz To Set New Bundesliga Unbeaten Record

February 23, (THEWILL) – Bayer Leverkusen extended their lead at the top of the Bundesliga table to 11 points on Friday evening, defeating Mainz 2-1 at the BayArena. However, the league leaders relied on an unfortunate own goal from Mainz keeper Robin Zentner to secure all three points.

The home side opened the scoring after just three minutes when Granit Xhaka curled in a brilliant long-range strike into the top corner. However, Mainz responded quickly, with Dominik Kohr powering home a diving header in the 8th minute to equalise after a good build-up play down the left.

Leverkusen dominated possession in search of a winner, but a resolute Mainz defence held firm. The visitors nearly took a shock lead themselves just after the hour mark when Leandro Barreiro stretched to meet a free kick, only for Jonathan Tah to heroically clear off the line.

The decisive moment came in the 68th minute courtesy of a speculative effort from Robert Andrich which appeared harmless. Still, Zentner failed to handle the swerving shot properly, allowing it to slip through his gloves and trickle over the line.

The blunder sunk Mainz’s hopes of snatching an unlikely point. Their misery was compounded when substitute Jessica Ngankam was shown a straight red card with 10 minutes remaining for a dangerous tackle on Xhaka.

The victory extends Leverkusen’s unbeaten record across all competitions to 33 matches, surpassing rivals Bayern Munich’s previous German benchmark.

Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.