Berlin, Feb 13 (IANS): A late goal by Julian Baumgartlinger helped a clinical Mainz beat Schalke 2-1 in a Bundesliga match at the Coface Arena here.
Mainz climbed into the top six after their victory over fourth-placed Schalke thanks to Baumgartlinger' s late header on Friday. With this victory, Mainz jumped from the seventh to the fifth place. They are now equal on points with fourth placed Schalke.
Both sides staged a fast paced encounter with chances at both ends of the pitch in front of 32,107 spectators.
However, as soon as the pace of the game faded away, Mainz broke the deadlock through new arrival Gaetan Bussmann, who slotted home a drop kick following a failed clearance attempt by Schalke to mark his first goal for the "Nuellfuenfer" .
Schalke fought back and shocked the hosts immediately after the restart as new arrival Younes Belhanda made use of Max Meyer' s square pass into the box to tap home his premiere goal for the "Royal Blues" .
It wasn't the last first goal of the night as Mainz' team captain Julian Baumgartlinger headed home the 2-1 winner in the 79th minute to net his first Bundesliga goal in his 112th appearance.