RB Leipzig knocked Bayern Munich, who they meet on Wednesday, off the top of the Bundesliga on Saturday with a 2-0 win at home to Hertha BSC.
With Bayern due at bottom side SV Darmstadt 98 yesterday, Leipzig took their chance to reclaim top spot with a convincing win at the sold-out Red Bull Arena.
Carlo Ancelotti’s Bayern Munich can regain top spot due to their superior goal-difference by beating Darmstadt ahead of the mouth-watering clash against Leipzig at the Allianz Arena.
Photo: EPA
Goals either side of the break by striker Timo Werner and burly centerback and captain Willi Orban sealed Leipzig’s win.
It put Leipzig back on track after the previous Saturday’s shock 1-0 defeat at Ingolstadt 04, which ended their 13-match unbeaten run — a record for a team at the start of their first top-flight season.
“I said after the [Ingolstadt] defeat that I wanted to see a reaction and my team didn’t disappoint. We showed what we wanted from the first second,” Leipzig coach Ralph Hasenhuettl said.
“Leipzig were a bit too quick for us,” said Hertha coach Pal Dardai, whose side are fourth.
Leipzig went ahead when Guinea midfielder Naby Keita, who later went off with a leg injury and is set to miss the Bayern game, played Werner into the penalty area to dart between two defenders and slot home on 41 minutes.
It was the ninth goal in 15 games for Leipzig’s top scorer.
Werner was shown a yellow card for play-acting when he went to the turf after being blocked by Hertha centerback Jens Hegeler on 59 minutes.
Leipzig sealed the win on 62 minutes when Orban got on the end of Emil Forsberg’s corner and powered his header home, giving Hertha goalkeeper Rune Jarstein little chance.
Orban looked to have claimed his second on 78 minutes, but the assistant referee flagged with three Leipzig players offside.
Elsewhere, FSV Mainz 05 midfielder Danny Latza hit a hat-trick in his team’s 3-1 home win over strugglers Hamburg SV.
Augsburg caretaker coach Manuel Baum got off to winning start as Martin Hinteregger scored from a corner in their 1-0 home victory over Borussia Moenchengladbach.
Former Arsenal winger Serge Gnabry rescued a point for Werder Bremen with his sixth league goal this season in their 1-1 draw with Cologne to cancel out Artjoms Rudnevs’ goal.
Ukrainian Yevhen Konoplyanka netted for Schalke 04 in their 1-1 draw with SC Freiburg.
Want-away Germany star Julian Draxler returned to VfL Wolfsburg’s lineup, having been dropped for their previous two games, to inspire a 1-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt, who had their nine-match unbeaten run ended.
It was Draxler’s precise corner which Dutch defender Jeffrey Bruma headed home on 33 minutes for his club’s first win in five games, but the attacking midfielder is expected to leave in next month’s transfer window.
Frankfurt hot-shot Alex Meier fired a penalty over the bar midway through the second half.
This was Eintracht’s first defeat since Oct. 1 to leave them sixth, while Wolfsburg are just above the bottom three.
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