Leverkusen crush Duesseldorf as Hoffenheim win five-goal thriller

Berlin (AFP) – An own-goal from English midfielder Lewis Baker kickstarted an impressive 3-1 win for Bayer Leverkusen over Fortuna Duesseldorf in the Bundesliga on Saturday. 

Chelsea loanee Baker turned a Kevin Volland cross into his own net after just six minutes, before Champions League qualifiers Leverkusen turned on the style against their helpless hosts. 

Charles Aranguiz doubled the lead from a Kerem Demirbay free-kick shortly afterwards, and Volland was involved again with some sharp footwork as Karim Bellarabi made it three just before half-time. 

Werder Bremen still have no points from their opening two games after they lost a five-goal thriller to Hoffenheim.

The home side looked comfortable after second-half goals from Ermin Bicakcic and Ihlas Bebou had cancelled out Niclas Fuellkrug’s opener and Bremen had a player sent off. 

Yet Yuya Osako drew the visitors level with a slaloming run and fine finish before Pavel Kaderabek’s header three minutes from time sealed a 3-2 win for Hoffenheim.

New Borussia Moenchengladbach boss Marco Rose celebrated his first three points as his side came from behind to beat Mainz 3-1.

Robin Quaison flicked on Daniel Brosinski’s free-kick to give Mainz the lead, before Gladbach right-back Stefan Lainer bundled in the equaliser after a goalmouth scramble on the half-hour mark. 

Alassane Plea’s free-kick slipped through goalkeeper Florian Mueller’s fingers on 78 minutes, before Breel Embolo wrapped up the win just one minute later. 

Elsewhere, Freiburg, who thrashed Mainz 3-0 last weekend, picked up a second win in two as they came from behind to beat promoted side Paderborn 3-1.

Goals from Luca Waldschmidt, Nils Petersen and South Korea’s Chang-Hoon Kwon secured the win after Streli Mamba had given Paderborn an early lead.

Sebastian Andersson scored Union Berlin’s first ever Bundesliga goal, cancelling out Ruben Varga’s opener to secure a 1-1 draw with his late equaliser at Augsburg.  

Saturday’s late kick-off sees champions Bayern Munich head to Schalke in search of their first league win of the season.