Munich (Germany) (AFP) – Timo Werner netted twice as RB Leipzig went second in the Bundesliga with a 4-2 win at Hertha Berlin on Saturday’s 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Borussia Dortmund can go top of the German top flight with a win at Bayern Munich later on Saturday, but prior to that showdown, Leipzig took their chance to climb in the capital, where the Berlin Wall fell on November 9, 1989.
A replica of the Wall, which divided Germany’s capital from 1961, separated Hertha and Leipzig before being knocked down prior to kick-off as midfielder Maximilian Mittelstaedt gave the hosts a first-half lead.
The lead lasted just six minutes as Hertha’s Dutch defender Karim Rekik gave away a penalty with a handball, which Werner converted having hit a hat-trick in last weekend’s 8-0 thrashing of Mainz.
Marcel Sabitzer added Leipzig’s second on the stroke of half-time after the Austrian’s first-time strike deflected off Rekik and wrong-footed Hertha’s goalkeeper Rune Jarstein.
Midfielder Kevin Kampl netted a late third with a superb left-footed strike before Werner grabbed his second for his 11th league goal in as many games.
Moments later, Hertha striker Davie Selke scored the hosts’ second against his former club as three goals came in the final five minutes.
“Football just gets easier when you’re on a run like this,” said goal-scorer Kampl after Leipzig’s fourth straight win in all competitions.
“We’re playing with a lot of confidence and have to keep that up after the international break. Our attitude can’t change at all.”
The victory leaves Leipzig just a point behind leaders Borussia Moenchengladbach, who play to home to Werder Bremen on Sunday.
Schalke blew the chance to go third, and level with Leipzig on 21 points, after conceding a late equaliser in their 3-3 draw at home to Fortuna Duesseldorf, which left the Royal Blues fifth.
Duesseldorf striker Rouwen Hennings completed his hat-trick five minutes from time as Fortuna picked up only their third league win this season.
“It doesn’t get any better than that,” beamed Hennings.
“This doesn’t happen every day, at least not to me.
“What’s more important we took something away with us, especially as we play Bayern in two weeks.”
Schalke squandered the lead three times after Daniel Caligiuri hit a superb first-half strike, then Turkey defender Ozan Kabak and Germany midfielder Suat Serdar scored second-half goals in Gelsenkirchen.
Union Berlin are up to 11th after their third straight win as Sebastian Anderson scored twice in their 3-2 victory at Mainz.
After Austrian defender Karim Onisiwo netted late on for Mainz, captain and right-back Daniel Brosinski, who conceded a first-half own goal, gave the hosts brief hope by scoring on a counter-attack on 90 minutes.
Augsburg climbed out of the bottom three with a 1-0 victory at bottom club Paderborn as defender Philipp Max, part of the Germany team which won men’s football silver at the 2016 Olympics, scored the winner.
