BERLIN – A devastating first half performance brought Bayer
Leverkusen a 3-1 win away to Fortuna Dusseldorf on Saturday while
Freiburg also stayed perfect in the Bundesliga with a 3-1 triumph at
Paderborn.
A Lewis Baker own goal, Charles Aranguiz and Karim Bellarabi had
Leverkusen cruising before the break in Dusseldorf. They are third in
the table on six points, behind leaders Borussia Dortmund who won 3-1
at Cologne on Friday.
Freiburg went second as Luca Waldschmidt, Nils Petersen and Kwon
Chang Hoon secured a come-from-behind victory at promoted Paderborn.
Fellow newcomers Union Berlin drew 1-1 at Augsburg, Hoffenheim beat
10-man Werder Bremen 3-2 and Mainz lost 3-1 at home to Borussia
Moenchengladbach.
Champions Bayern Munich look for their first league win away to
Schalke in Saturday's late game.
Leverkusen laboured to an opening win over Paderborn but turned on
the style in Dusseldorf from the sixth minute.
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/F95B04?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#F95B04| 1-3 pic.twitter.com/wXcgFzDp2j
— Bayer 04 Leverkusen (@bayer04_en)
Kevin Volland's cut back was turned over the line by the unfortunate
Baker, Aranguiz fired home from a free kick and Volland set up
Bellarabi in a sensational opening half.
"We have very deservedly won - even if it was unnecessary to let the
game go a bit towards the end," said Volland. "We are definitely not
100 per cent or we would have kept a clean sheet."
Dusseldorf had started with an impressive win away to Bremen but were
outclassed in front of their own fans even if Alfredo Morales grabbed
a late consolation.
Freiburg fought back from Streli Mamba's early opener in Paderborn to
go third in the table. Luca Waldschmidt punished Christian
Strohdiek's handball with a clinical penalty and Petersen pounced
before the break to turn the game which Kwon made safe in the last
minute.
"It was lucky that it was 2-1 for us at half time," said Freiburg
coach Christian Streich. "In the second half they pushed us back but
we stood up to it well."
Paderborn coach Steffen Baumgart made some unwanted Bundesliga
history as the first boss to receive a yellow card for complaining to
the referee.
Hoffenheim trailed to Werder as Niclas Fuellkrug headed the opener
from a corner.
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/F95B04?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#F95B04| 1-3 pic.twitter.com/wXcgFzDp2j
— Bayer 04 Leverkusen (@bayer04_en)
Ermin Bicakcic and Ihlas Bebou, in four minutes before the hour, put
the hosts ahead before Yuya Osaka equalized after Werder's Johannes
Eggestein was red carded.
Pavel Kaderabek struck three minutes from time though to give
Hoffenheim coach Alfred Schreuder a first win and leave Bremen
pointless.
Sebastian Andersson scored Union Berlin's first-ever Bundesliga goal
to equalize in Augsburg after Ruben Vargas had notched the opener for
the hosts. Keven Schlotterbeck saw straight red late on but Union
held on for a historic point.
"I'm really happy for the guys," said Union boss Urs Fischer.
"Overall we did a lot right over the 90 minutes. We were in the game
from the start and that helped us.
"The team never gave up and believed they could get something."
Mainz led Gladbach through Robin Quaison's header but Stefan Lainer
levelled for the guests before late strikes by Alassane Plea and
Breel Embolo won it.