Leverkusen edge Mainz thriller as Hoffenheim collapse again at Hamburg

Bayer Leverkusen managed a first away win of the season at Mainz but, despite playing excellently in patches, did not make it easy for themselves, letting a two-goal lead go and then, after going 4-2 up, conceding a late goal to Benedict Hollerbach to give themselves a few more palpitations.

It did at least mean that Moussa Diaby's first goal back at the club turned out to be the winner. Patrik Schick, meanwhile, equalled club greats Stefan Kießling and Dimitar Berbatov by scoring in the first five games of a Bundesliga season.

Leverkusen's fellow Europa League contenders — perhaps participants is a better description — Hoffenheim continued their rough start, letting a 2-1 lead slip to Hamburg in the closing stages, defeated by Miro Muheim's rocket of a finish in the fourth minute of stoppage time after Bernardo's red card.

Having lost four out of five in the league and lost at OFI Crete in the Europa League, Christian Ilzer and company now face Besiktas on Thursday before a suddenly-very-important trip to Gladbach.