15:30 Kickoffs: Alonso writes history, wins for Mainz and Augsburg, Hecking draw in Wolfsburg | OneFootball

Kiel 0-2 Leverkusen

In his pre-match conference, Xabi Alonso reminds his team about how the return fixture unfolded against Holstein Kiel. After going two goals ahead inside the first ten minutes, Leverkusen dropped two vital points to the Bundesliga debutants.

They started this game similarly with Patrik Schick nodding home his 15th league goal after Amine Adli’s deflected cross. The Czech striker was a late substitute in Leverkusen’s consecutive goalless draws against Wolfsburg and Bayern.

The champions posed consistent threats from set-piece situations, but Kiel nearly equalized through Shuto Machino. However, Leverkusen deservedly doubled their lead with Adli’s goal on the stroke of half-time. On his first start since his injury on matchday seven, the Moroccan international provided a lobbed finish thanks to Florian Wirtz’s tenth assist of the season.

Leverkusen continued to dominate proceedings after the break, but they struggled to create clear-cut chances. After all, the events of the earlier fixture against Kiel made them a bit cautious in their approach.

The result means there is a new record for Alonso in German football. The Spaniard now becomes the first coach to go 28 Bundesliga away games undefeated. Bayern’s legendary coach Udo Lattek previously held the record for decades. Nevertheless, Timon Weiner, who missed last week’s defeat at Frankfurt, had a great game between the sticks.

Wolfsburg 1-1 Bochum

Both teams came off impressive wins against this season’s Champions League clubs. Wolfsburg were efficient in their 2-1 win away at Stuttgart, while Bochum got the better of their struggling neighbors Borussia Dortmund.

Mohamed Amoura and Giorgos Masouras, who were both on the scoresheet last weekend, had their respective team’s best scoring chances in the first-half. Bochum’s Dieter Hecking, who won the DFB-Pokal with Wolfsburg back in 2015, managed to keep the league’s fourth-best attack quiet at the Volkswagen-Arena.

And, five minutes after the break, they surprisingly took the lead when Erhan Mašović powered home Matúš Bero’s corner-kick with a strong header. It was a first goal for the Serbian defender since his scoring exploits at the start of 2023.

The in-form Amoura responded with a stunning equalizing goal, but it was chalked off because of a Jonas Wind foul on Tom Krauß. The host’s deserved equalizer came through a corner-kick. After a goalmouth scramble, Mattias Svanberg heads home from close range ten minutes from time.

Mainz 1-0 St. Pauli

Despite playing in their special edition kit to celebrate the city’s vibrant carnival celebration, Mainz struggled to create anything of note in the first-half against the newly-promoted side. On the other end, they only conceded one goal in their last four league encounters, but they were fortunate to not concede before the half-time break here.

Elias Saad was denied a penalty-kick after a VAR check, while Noah Weißhaupt hit the post in an encouraging half for the visitors. Bo Henriksen decided to abandon the two-striker system by taking off Nelson Weiper at half-time.

And it was his replacement who broke the deadlock for the hosts. Jae-sung Lee gets at the end of Nikola Vasilj’s unconvincing save from Nadim Amiri’s long-range shot. It was a first goal for the South Korean since his famous double against Bayern Munich at the end of 2024.

The visitors created another golden chance, but captain Jackson Irvine failed to find the target. In the end, St. Pauli finished the game without a shot on target, despite plenty of good opportunities falling their way.

In the final action of the end-to-end game, Mainz scored their second with a perfect counter-attack. Paul Nebel netted his sixth of the season as the 05ers secured back-to-back 2-0 wins against newly-promoted teams.