Grimaldo nets double as Leverkusen edge past Mainz in Bundesliga thriller

Alex Grimaldo netted a brace to help Bayer Leverkusen secure a 4-3 victory over Mainz on Saturday in the Bundesliga, pushing their unbeaten run to eight matches ahead of their European showdown with defending champions Paris Saint-Germain.

This result propelled Leverkusen into fifth position in the standings, tied on points with Borussia Dortmund in fourth, with the latter facing table-toppers Bayern Munich in the day's closing fixture.

Martin Terrier's goal three minutes before the end had extended Leverkusen's advantage to 4-2, yet Mainz's Armindo Sieb quickly replied to create a tense finish.

Despite surrendering seven points this term after taking the lead in all seven of their games, Leverkusen managed to hold firm in a contest they largely controlled.

"Following a rocky beginning to the campaign, we are now gathering some momentum," Jonas Hofmann shared with Sky.

"Our aim is to capitalise on this and settle in under our coach (Kasper Hjulmand), who is still finding his feet."

The Danish manager Hjulmand took over from the dismissed Erik ten Hag at the start of September.

Grimaldo opened the scoring with a penalty on the 11th minute, and Christian Kofane made it 2-0 just past the halfway point of the opening period, slotting home a smart team effort into the bottom right corner.

Leverkusen conceded a straightforward goal in the 34th minute when Loic Bade's attempted clearance struck a teammate, gifting Lee Jae-sung an easy finish.

Right before the interval, Leverkusen forced a mistake from Mainz, and Hofmann, who had earned the earlier spot-kick, set up Grimaldo for a simple close-range effort.

The Spanish full-back Grimaldo has now contributed six goals and two assists across 10 appearances in all competitions this season.

RB Leipzig claimed a 2-1 home win against newly promoted Hamburg, thanks to strikes from Christoph Baumgartner bookending a goal by Albert Sambi Lokonga.

After a 6-0 drubbing in their opening match at Bayern, Leipzig have since triumphed in five and shared the spoils once, placing them second, two points adrift of the leaders.

This marks Leipzig's first season without European commitments since their initial promotion in 2016.

In other action, Stuttgart triumphed 3-0 away to Wolfsburg, rising to third place with goals from ex-Wolf Tiago Tomas alongside Germany's Maximilian Mittelstaedt and Angelo Stiller.

Cologne maintained their solid run upon returning to the elite division by holding Augsburg to a 1-1 stalemate at home, whereas Werder Bremen twice relinquished their advantage to end 2-2 at Heidenheim.