Lukas Petkov plays 88 minutes as promoted Elversberg beat Mainz 4-1
Bulgarian Lukas Petkov started as SV Elversberg cruised past Mainz 05 in the opening match of Bundesliga matchday 8. Elversberg are now fifth with 13 points.
Symbolic image · Photo: Simon Mannweiler / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
Bulgarian Lukas Petkov started and played until the 88th minute as SV Elversberg beat FSV Mainz 05 4-1 (3-0 at halftime) on Friday evening. The match opened matchday 8 of the German Bundesliga. According to Bulgarian news agency BTA, Petkov was replaced by Ralf Adam.
The promoted side settled the game before the break. According to ZDF, Felix Keidel put Elversberg ahead in the 7th minute, Francis Onyeka made it 2-0 in the 26th and Maurice Krattenmacher scored in first-half stoppage time. Cole Campbell added a fourth in stoppage time at the end, and Benedict Hollerbach pulled one back for the visitors. Mainz's Stefan Posch was sent off for a second yellow card. The crowd was 9,307.
The win lifted Elversberg to fifth place with 13 points, level with third-placed Freiburg and fourth-placed Bayer Leverkusen, who have played one game fewer, BTA reported. According to ZDF, it was the first time since mid-April that Mainz dropped points away from home; the team sits mid-table with 10 points.