2 October 2010 - Mainz Roll To Seven

On 2 October 2010, Mainz joined an exclusive group by opening their season with a record-matching seven straight league wins. Like the others before them, however, the streak ended at seven.

Bayern Munich were the first team to win their first seven Bundesliga matches back in 1995 and Kaiserslautern matched the feat in 2001. In the 2010-11 season, Mainz beat both of them en route to their own streak. It started in August with Stuttgart and included wins over Wolfsburg, Werder Bremen, and Cologne to extend the run to six.

Their seventh match came against Hoffenheim, who had beaten Mainz twice the previous season. But the hosts, who were sitting at the top of the table, wasted no time in taking the lead--striker Sami Allagui put them ahead in just the second minute. Hoffenheim striker Demba Ba equalized in the 41st minute, Ádám Szalai (pictured at right) restored the lead six minutes later. Hoffenheim midfielder Luiz Gustavo inadvertently extended the lead with a 59th-minute own goal and the two teams traded late strikes to end the match as a 4-2 Mainz victory.

Unfortunately for Mainz, they fell short of taking sole possession of a new record, falling to Hamburg 0-1 in their next match two weeks later. 

Since then, Bayern Munich broke the record by opening with eight straight league wins in 2012, then pushed the record to ten in 2015. 

5 January 2013 - Ba Blazes For The Blues

On 5 January 2013, after signing with Chelsea the previous day, striker Demba Ba made his debut, scoring twice in a 5-1 FA Cup win over Southampton.

The club acquired the Senegal international from Newcastle on 4 January for an undisclosed transfer fee rumored to be just north of £7 million, signing him to a 3.5-year deal. At the time, he was on pace for his best scoring year ever, with 13 goals in 20 Premier League appearances for Newcastle in the first half of the 2012-13 season (he had scored 22 for Rouen in 2005-06, his first season as a professional, but had not gotten more than 16 in any season since).

Manager Rafa Benítez wasted no time in putting Ba to use, including him in the starting line-up for the third-round FA Cup match at Southampton while Chelsea's record £50 million signing Fernando Torres watched from the bench.

While the hosts went up 1-0 with a goal from Jay Rodriguez (22'), Ba brought Chelsea level in the 35th minute. Goals from Victor Moses (45'+1) and Branislav Ivanović (52') on both sides of the break pushed them ahead 1-3, then Ba scored again in the 61st minute to extend the lead to 1-4. A final goal from Frank Lampard from the penalty spot (83') capped the 1-5 victory.

Ba drew rave reviews for his performance, especially in comparison to the struggling Torres, but he was unable to maintain that form. He finished the season with only six goals for Chelsea in all competitions, then fell out of favor after Jose Mourinho replaced Benítez for the 2013-14 season. With the first half of the season complete, Ba has made a total of fourteen appearances in all competitions, with only three goals.

2 October 2010 - Mainz Roll To Seven

On 2 October 2010, Mainz joined an exclusive group by opening their season with seven straight league wins. Like the others, however, the streak ended at seven.

Bayern Munich were the first team to win their first seven Bundesliga matches back in 1995 and Kaiserslautern matched the feat in 2001. In the 2010-11 season, Mainz beat both of them en route to their own streak. It started in August with Stuttgart and included wins over Wolfsburg, Werder Bremen, and Cologne to extend the run to six.

Their seventh match came against Hoffenheim, who had beaten Mainz twice the previous season. But the hosts, who were sitting at the top of the table, wasted no time in taking the lead--striker Sami Allagui put them ahead in just the second minute. Hoffenheim striker Demba Ba equalized in the 41st minute, Ádám Szalai (pictured at right) restored the lead six minutes later. Hoffenheim midfielder Luiz Gustavo inadvertently extended the lead with a 59th-minute own goal and the two teams traded late strikes to end the match as a 4-2 Mainz victory.

Unfortunately for Mainz, they fell short of taking sole possession of a new record, falling to Hamburg 0-1 in their next match two weeks later.