Leipzig Surge To Top Spot With Comeback Win

(MENAFN- Gulf Times) RB Leipzig came from behind to beat Freiburg 3-1 at home on Saturday to leapfrog Bayern Munich and go top of the Bundesliga, while Borussia Dortmund's away woes continued with another defeat.
Freiburg, impressive this season under new coach Julian Schuster, scored first when Japan winger Ritsu Doan was in the perfect place to head in a Vincenzo Grifo cross. Leipzig, who looked heavy-legged after a 1-0 home defeat to Liverpool in the Champions League on Wednesday, were a goal down at half-time but equalised shortly after.
Germany defender Benjamin Henrichs, who was at fault for Freiburg's opener, cut a dangerous cross goalwards for captain Willi Orban to divert into the net. Lutsharel Geertruida put Leipzig in front after 58 minutes when he finished off a lightning-fast counter attack for his first Bundesliga goal.
Lois Openda put the home side in full control with 11 minutes remaining, again on the break – his fifth goal in eight games this season. Leipzig are now three points clear of Bayern, who play at last-placed Bochum today.
In Saturday's late game, Bayer Leverkusen were held 2-2 at Werder Bremen despite twice taking the lead. Bremen's Marvin Ducksch's 74-minute goal cancelled out Victor Boniface's opener. Leverkusen retook the lead three minutes later, Felix Agu blasting the ball into his own net under heavy attention from Jeremie Frimpong.
Romano Schmid's rocket from outside the box drew Bremen level again in the final minute. Unbeaten champions last season while conceding just 24 goals, Leverkusen have already shipped 14 in eight games this campaign and sit five points behind leaders Leipzig.
Just days after letting a 2-0 lead slip to lose 5-2 at Real Madrid in a rematch of last season's Champions League final, Dortmund's poor week continued with a 2-1 defeat at Augsburg despite going ahead early. As he did against Real, Dortmund winger Donyell Malen gave his side the lead, blasting an excellent Serhou Guirassy assist into the net after four minutes.
Augsburg were level after 25 minutes however, Alexis Claude-Maurice taking advantage of some lazy defending to waltz through the centre of the park and hit a low shot into the corner. Claude-Maurice scored five minutes into the second half, this time capitalising on an Emre Can error to slide the ball into the right-hand corner.
Dortmund were reduced to 10 men deep into stoppage time when debutant Almugera Kabar collected a second yellow for a tactical foul.
The loss leaves Dortmund seven points off top spot after just eight matches. Last season's Champions League finalists have not won away from home in the league since April.
Elsewhere, Stuttgart won 2-1 at home against promoted Holstein Kiel. Captain Deniz Undav opened the scoring 19 minutes in and El Bilal Toure, who scored a stoppage-time winner against Juventus midweek, added a stunner in the second half.
Jeff Chabot's second yellow meant Stuttgart were reduced to 10 men and Armin Gigovic cut the lead with six minutes remaining but Kiel, who lost Jann-Fiete Arp to a second yellow late, could not cut the gap further. In Hamburg, promoted St Pauli picked up a valuable point in a scoreless draw against Wolfsburg.

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