Quite the spectacle took place at the Coface Arena on Saturday afternoon. Leverkusen hit Mainz for six in the first hour or so, notching up a three goal lead through Heung-Min Son, Stefan Kießling and Hakan Calhanoglu. The hosts looked dead on their feet, but a Ja-Cheol Koo penalty double left them thinking what could have been had they played the entire game in that manner.

Mainz earned a 0-0 draw away at Werder Bremen last weekend, bringing them a further point clearer of the relegation dog fight. They're not fully out of the woods yet and they'd have to cope without the injured Niko Bungert, so Junior Diaz came in to take his place.

Leverkusen lost out in heart-breaking circumstances in mid-week, losing on penalties to FC Bayern München 3-5. Emir Spahic wasn't included by coach Roger Schmidt, as the investigation continued into an incident with a steward after the aforementioned game. He was replaced by Tin Jedvaj, with Heung-Min Son and Hakan Calhanoglu taking the places of Simon Rolfes and Julian Brandt.

Martin Schmidt's side were enjoying the majority of possession and territory but were finding it tough to break through the home defence. When they did, they found Loris Karius in fine form. The Germany under-21 'keeper made a great low save from Lars Bender's powerful header.

The young stopper was powerless to prevent Son from bringing Leverkusen into the lead moments later, however. Calhanoglu sent over a teasing cross to the back post and the South Korean ran onto the ball, smashing it home on the volley into the bottom corner. Roger Schmidt's decision to bring them back into the starting eleven was already justified.

Johannes Geis and his set-pieces were the only way that Mainz were looking likely to trouble Bernd Leno and Leverkusen. He was usually off in terms of shooting, though he sent in a few very tempting deliveries that his team-mates just failed to get their heads on.

The game was filled with fouls and struggled to get into any sort of rhythm. The goal seemed to kill the momentum that the visitors had built up, although the managed to weather the Mainz storm and went into the break with the lead.

Leverkusen seemed to kick into gear again after the restart and it took some marvellous defending from Joo-Ho Park to clear the ball from slipping past Karius and into the net. That start was enough to knock Mainz out of their stride and the visitors added a second.

Stefan Kießling managed to time his run to perfect and latched on to Roberto Hilbert's fantastic diagonal through ball. He steadied himself and confidently placed the ball past the oncoming Karius, before running over to celebrate in front of the visiting fans. After such a barren run, he'd now scored three in his last two Bundesliga games.

They weren't content and when Calhanoglu stepped up to the free-kick, twenty-five yards out, he confidently dispatched it into the top corner. The Turk hadn't scored since matchday 20 and had seemingly gone off the boil, but this performance suggested he'd come alive for Leverkusen's run in.

Mainz looked dead and buried, completely out of sorts, though Omer Toprak brought down Shinji Okazaki inside the area and they had a way back into the game. Ja-Cheol Koo blasted the penalty into the bottom corner, leaving Leno with no chance. Koo nearly had a quick-fire second until his diving header was brilliantly blocked.

Koo did notch up another goal through a second penalty, this even more emphatic that the last, though it came too late and Roger Schmidt's side were able to see out the remaining few seconds.

It means Leverkusen pull ten points clear of Schalke in fifth, with their place in the Champions League spots almost assured. The late collapse will give them much to mull over before welcoming Hannover 96 to the BayArena next weekend. At the same time, Martin Schmidt wondering why they couldn't have played so well earlier in the game. Mainz remain in mid-table, ahead of a crucial trip to SC Freiburg on macthday 29.