Berlin (AFP) – Philippe Coutinho shone again and Robert Lewandowski made history for Bayern Munich as the defending champions went top of the Bundesliga on Saturday with a 3-2 win at Paderborn after Leipzig crashed against Schalke.
While Bayern were squeezing past bottom club Paderborn, Leipzig were shocked 3-1 at home to Schalke to surrender top spot.
Defending champions Bayern took full advantage to top the Bundesliga table before Tuesday’s key Champions League clash at Tottenham Hotspur.
Coutinho, who is rebooting his career on loan in Munich after an unhappy stint at Barcelona, played a key role by setting up Serge Gnabry for the opening goal with a sublime first-half pass.
Having scored his first Bayern goal the week before in a rout of Cologne, the Brazilian playmaker tapped home Gnabry’s neat pass after the break before substitute Kai Proeger pulled a goal back for Paderborn.
With time almost up, Lewandowski showed great finishing to put away a Niklas Suele pass to make it 3-1 and became the first Bayern player to score in each of the first six matches of the season, bringing his tally for this campaign to 10.
However, there were nervous looks in Bayern’s ranks in the final ten minutes after Paderborn defender Jamilu Collins beat Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer from 30 metres out late on.
In Leipzig, Morocco international midfielder Amine Harit inspired Schalke to an impressive away win, drilling home a penalty and setting up a first Bundesliga goal for Welsh teenager Rabbi Matondo.
The Royal Blues raced into a 2-0 lead with first-half goals as towering Senegalese centre-back Salif Sane headed home from a corner on 29 minutes, then Harit drilled home a penalty just before the break.
The referee took a long look at the replays after Harit went down after the faintest of contact from Mali defender Amado Haidara. Harit slammed home the spot kick.
Schalke, under ex-Huddersfield coach David Wagner, made sure of the three points when Matondo claimed his first Bundesliga goal since joining from Manchester City.
Harit again did the damage, punishing a mistake in midfield then putting in a well-timed pass which sent Matondo away to fire home on 58 minutes.
Emil Forsberg’s consolation goal came too late for Leipzig.
The shock result shook up the table as Bayern climbed one place to top, Schalke leapt from fifth to second and Leipzig dropped to third.
Borussia Dortmund must win at home to Werder Bremen later to lift them from seventh.
from World Soccer Talk https://ift.tt/2lWGg5x
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