Urs Fischer named an unchanged starting eleven 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 Nahuel Noll came in for Markus Schubert. Nine Paderborn players made their Bundesliga debuts on the day.
The match was a tight affair, with both sides pressing intensely and struggling to build cleanly from the back. Mainz came close to scoring on several occasions, with Nadiem Amiri's effort from the edge of the box flying narrowly wide of the post, and Phillip Tietz's header bouncing back off the crossbar. Paderborn's goalkeeper, Nahuel Noll, was the standout performer of the afternoon, denying Phillipp Mwene with a smart save and producing a superb tip-over to keep out Dominik Kohr's dipping volley.
The result leaves Mainz and Paderborn with a point each, and both sides will be looking to build on this performance in their next matches.