Leverkusen late show keeps top four hopes alive
Jarell Quansah's 88th-minute finish helped Bayer Leverkusen rescue a point as Kasper Hjulmand's side kept its top four hopes alive with a 1-1 draw against Mainz.
Leverkusen appeared set to slip to back-to-back league defeats after going behind to Sheraldo Becker's stunning finish, but Quansah popped up with a decisive goal late on.
Jonas Hofmann's early drive at goal was comfortably gathered before Becker tested Janis Blaswich at the other end as both sides looked to make inroads in the opening minutes at BayArena.
Mainz looked the more threatening in the final third as Paul Nebel brought another save out of Blaswich, with Patrik Schick's tame header bringing an end to a low-key first half.
Both sides struggled to create any chances of note after the break until the 63rd minute, when Schick was unable to steer Martin Terrier's cross to the near post past Daniel Batz.
But with its first shot on target in the second half, Mainz stunned the home support when Nebel's delivery into the box was volleyed into the bottom-right corner by Becker.
Phillip Tietz should have doubled Mainz's lead soon after when Kaishu Sano's lofted pass found him inside the penalty area, but he failed to make a clean connection on the ball.
Mainz was made to pay for that missed opportunity two minutes from time when Christian Kofane crossed for Quansah to slide the ball home and seal a share of the spoils.
