Mainz needed only two goals to comfortably see out a vital victory away on Sunday against relegation threatened Heidenheim after the home side’s European thriller on Thursday.
Heidenheim pulled off a spectacular 2-1 win in Copenhagen after a superb second-half performance. The teams will meet for the return leg in Voith-Arena next week.
On a dramatic afternoon across the Bundesliga, VfB Stuttgart, Union Berlin and SC Freiburg secured huge wins to get their league form back on track, whilst goalless draws containing Mainz, Augsburg, Wolfsburg and Bayer Leverkusen questioned the respective European and title credentials of Mainz and Leverkusen.