Mainz ties Bundesliga record with seventh straight victory
October 2nd 2010 16:53
Mainz put their name down in the history books with their seventh straight Bundesliga victory, a 4-2 triumph over Hoffenheim today.
The win, earned with goals from Sami Allagui, Adam Szalai, Lewis Holtby and an Andre Schurrle penalty, saw them equal the record of consecutive league wins at the start of a season set by Bayern Munich in 1994 and repeated by Kaiserslautern in 2001.
Demba Ba had levelled at 1-1 just before half-time and Gylfi Sigurdsson made it 3-2 before a red card for Josip Simunic in the 72nd minute as he gave away the penalty helped Mainz to their historic triumph.
Hamburg will be Mainz's next opponents in a fortnight's time.
Mainz wasted no time going ahead with Allagui on target after just two minutes.
Holtby sent Szalai through on goal and the Hungarian drew goalkeeper Tom Starke to him before unselfishly squaring to Allagui, who stroked the ball into the empty net.
Hoffenheim deservedly levelled in the 41st minute though.
Luiz Gustavo advanced with the ball at his feet and then passed the baton to Ba, who took the ball into the area and placed his shot past Christian Wetklo.
Mainz were quick out of the blocks again in the second half with Szalai putting them back ahead in the 47th minute.
Holtby again was the provider, lifting the ball over the top to Szalai, who provided the composed finish.
There was no sitting back and relaxing this time, though, and the home side doubled their advantage in the 59th minute with Holtby this time getting his name on the scoresheet.
He skipped past Christian Eichner before drilling in a shot from a tight angle which Luiz Gustavo deflected into his own goal.
Sigurdsson was brought on by Hoffenheim coach Ralf Rangnick in a bid to salvage something from the game and he scored with his first touch in the 64th minute with a fine free-kick straight into the top left-hand corner.
Their hopes of a recovery lasted only 10 minutes, though, when Simunic fouled Holtby inside the area and the referee pointed to the spot, sending the former Hertha Berlin defender off.
Schurrle stepped up to score from the spot and seal Mainz's historic seventh straight victory.
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