Jarell Quansah's 88th-minute finish helped Bayer Leverkusen rescue a point as Kasper Hjulmand's side kept their top four hopes alive with a 1-1 draw against Mainz. 

Leverkusen appeared set to slip to back-to-back league defeats after going behind to Sheraldo Becker's stunning finish, but Quansah popped up with a decisive goal late on. 

Jonas Hofmann's early drive at goal was comfortably gathered before Becker tested Janis Blaswich at the other end as both sides looked to make inroads in the opening minutes at BayArena. 

Mainz looked the more threatening in the final third as Paul Nebel brought another save out of Blaswich, with Patrik Schick's tame header bringing an end to a low-key first half.

Both sides struggled to create any chances of note after the break until the 63rd minute, when Schick was unable to steer Martin Terrier's cross to the near post past Daniel Batz.

But with their first shot on target in the second half, Mainz stunned the home support when Nebel's delivery into the box was volleyed into the bottom-right corner by Becker.

Phillip Tietz should have doubled Mainz's lead soon after when Kaishu Sano's lofted pass found him inside the penalty area, but he failed to make a clean connection on the ball. 

And Mainz were made to pay for that missed opportunity two minutes from time when Christian Kofane crossed for Quansah to slide the ball home and seal a share of the spoils. 

Data Debrief: Leverkusen fail to fire 

After booking their place in the Champions League last 16 with a goalless draw against Olympiacos in midweek, Leverkusen delivered yet another tepid attacking display here, yet still managed to take at least something from the match. 

Leverkusen finished the contest with an expected goals (xG) total of 1.23 from their 12 shots, five of which were on target, compared to Mainz's 0.73 from their eight attempts, with Quansah's late intervention helping his team over the line. 

Indeed, Leverkusen are now unbeaten in their last six Bundesliga meetings against Mainz (W4 D2). Since the 2017-18 season, the Werkself have also scored in all 18 of their Bundesliga matches against Mainz – they do not have a longer active scoring streak against any other team in the top-flight.