Mainz and Paderborn play out opening weekend draw
Paderborn earned their first point back in the Bundesliga as Mainz proved unable to get past Nahuel Noll in what was the first goalless draw of the new season.
Urs Fischer named an unchanged starting XI for Mainz from the side that thrashed VfB Krieschow 9-0 in the DFB Cup, with only Fabio Gruber making his debut from the off.
Paderborn, meanwhile, gave Marvin Pieringer his first start since returning to the club, while goalkeeper Noll came in for Markus Schubert. Nine Paderborn players made their Bundesliga debuts on the day.
Tietz comes closest for Mainz
The opening exchanges were tight, with both sides pressing intensely and struggling to build cleanly from the back. Jaesung Lee volleyed narrowly wide inside the opening minutes for Mainz, while Laurin Curda caused problems down the right for Paderborn with a couple of dangerous crosses that narrowly evaded team-mates.
Mainz then came close twice in quick succession when first, Nadiem Amiri's effort from the edge of the box flew narrowly wide of the post. Moments later, Amiri's inswinging corner was flicked on by Phillip Tietz, whose header bounced back off the crossbar - the closest either side came to a goal throughout the match.
Mainz can't find a way through
Mainz continued to push after the restart, and Phillipp Mwene forced the first real save of the match, firing at goal from the edge of the box only for Noll to parry the effort behind.
Dominik Kohr's dipping half-volley from range almost provided a stunning moment, but the effort was tipped over by Noll, who was again the busier of the two goalkeepers late on.
Tietz then headed wide from a good position after a delivery from substitute Silvan Widmer as neither side proved capable of breaking the deadlock.
Watch: Mwene almost opens the scoring
Man of the Match: Nahuel Noll
Noll, making his Bundesliga debut, was the standout performer of the afternoon. The goalkeeper denied Mwene with a smart save early in the second half, then produced a superb tip-over to keep out Kohr's dipping volley. Noll topped the Fantasy Manager rankings for the away side and was voted Man of the Match by 45 per cent of fans.
Bundesliga Match Facts
xGoals: Mainz 0.84 - Paderborn 0.43
Fastest player: Steffen Tigges (Paderborn), 33.39 km/h
Pass efficiency: Nadiem Amiri (Mainz), +3.95
Fantasy Heroes: Kaishu Sano (Mainz, 210 Points), Nahuel Noll (Paderborn, 195 Points), Laurin Curda (Paderborn, 193 Points)
