Minnows Mainz equalled the record for most wins at the start of a Bundesliga campaign with their seventh victory as they hammered 10-man Hoffenheim 4-2 yesterday to maintain their perfect record.

Dark-horses Mainz are only the third side after Kaiserslautern and Bayern Munich to have won all seven matches at the start of the season after their young guns ran riot at home to Hoffenheim.

Both teenage striker Andre Schuerrle, 19, and midfielder Lewis Holtby have produced performances to take them to the verge of the national side, according to Germany coach Joachim Loew, and the pair scored in the rout.

Mainz began both halves in style with a first-half goal by Tunisia striker Sami Allagui after just two minutes, while Hungary striker Adam Szalai scored their second right at the start of the second half.

Hoffenheim striker Demba Ba had put his side level just before the half-time break while Iceland midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson came off the bench to smash in a free-kick just a minute later to make it 3-2 with 64 minutes played.

But the second half belonged to Mainz as Holtby, who had been a constant threat all afternoon, scored from the right wing as his shot clipped Hoffenheim’s Luiz Gustavo on 59 minutes.

Mainz then claimed the golden 21 points from seven games when Holtby was hauled down in the area by Hoffenheim’s Josip Simunic on 73 minutes.

Simunic was shown a straight red card and Schuerrle netted his fourth goal of the season to seal the win.

Freiburg are up to fourth in the table after their 3-2 win over Cologne yesterday and Hamburg are seventh after they came from behind to beat Kaiserslautern 2-1.

Schalke’s dreadful start to the season continued at Nuremberg as they suffered their fifth defeat when they went down 2-1 to stay second from bottom.

Ex-England manager Steve McClaren was denied his fourth straight win when his side were held 1-1 by Moenchengladbach.

Today, second-placed Dortmund need to beat Bayern Munich at home if they want to close the six-point gap behind Mainz after Jurgen Klopp’s Dortmund have racked up five consecutive wins in the German league.

But Louis van Gaal-coached Bayern will be gunning for the three points with president Uli Hoeness warning it is a must-win game at Dortmund.

“We absolutely have to win at Dortmund so we can get back into the championship race,” Hoeness said.

“If not, it will become difficult to make up the difference before Christmas.”

Fixtures

Today
B. Leverkusen vs W. Bremen 17.30
B. Dortmund vs B. Munich 17.30
Stuttgart vs E. Frankfurt 15.30