Mainz and Schalke have played out an entertaining 2-2 draw at the Coface Arena in the Bundesliga.
The first chance of the contest fell to the home side as early as the seventh minute, when Nikolce Noveski placed his header wide from a rebound.
A minute later Michel Bastos headed harmlessly wide from close range for Schalke and put in a cross for Roman Neustadter on 26 minutes only for him to head over the crossbar.
That miss came to bite the Royal Blues, as moments Mainz broke ahead, Andreas Ivanschitz turning in Nicolai Muller's cross from just yards out.
However, Schalke were level four minutes from the half-time interval when Bastos stroked the ball home after Raffael cut in a rebound across the face of the Mainz goal.
Christian Wetklo denied Julian Draxler 10 minutes into the second half, and moments later Muller smashed his shot wide for Mainz from the edge of the area.
Mainz regained their advantage in the 63rd minute when Andreas Ivanschitz set up Zdenek Pospech to shoot home from the right side of the Schalke box.
However, Bastos secured a point for Schalke with seven minutes of normal time remaining with an easy finish from inside the Mainz box.
Subhankar Mondal
