Lewandowski makes history, fires Bayern to top after Leipzig crash

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.

Borussia Moenchengladbach are fourth as goals by French strikers Alassane Plea and Marcus Thuram, who scored twice off the bench in last weekend’s win over Fortuna Duesseldorf, sealed a 2-0 victory at Hoffenheim.

Bayer Leverkusen are just behind them in fifth as forwards Kevin Volland and Kai Havertz hit the net late on, adding to a Florian Niederlechner own goal in a 3-0 win at Augsburg.

Meanwhile, Bas Dost and Andre Silva scored for Eintracht Frankfurt to claim a hard-fought 2-1 win at promoted Union Berlin on Friday.

The visitors withstood the home side’s early pressure and struck twice in the second half, making it clear to Union — if it wasn’t already — that it faces a long hard slog to stay up in its first season in the Bundesliga.

Union substitute Anthony Ujah scored in the 86th minute to set up an exciting finale but Frankfurt weathered the home side’s late push.

Union made a great start and almost took an early lead when goalkeeper Kevin Trapp just denied Marvin Friedrich after a corner.

Silva had Frankfurt’s first chance 10 minutes later when he was through on Rafal Gikiewicz’s goal, but Friedrich got back to put him off and Gikiewicz gratefully snapped up the ball.

Robert Andrich went close for Union in the 29th before Frankfurt gradually gained more of the ball with good chances falling to Dost, Silva and then Filip Kostic before the break.

Dost, making his first Bundesliga start for Frankfurt, finally scored in the 48th by prodding home from close range after Rafal Gikiewicz could only parry Filip Kostic’s effort.

Many of the traveling fans may have missed the goal due to more pyrotechnics in the away end at the beginning of the second half. The game had started under a cloud of smoke from their first exhibition. Union were unable to replicate their early intensity and Silva ended their hopes of even a point when he scored with a header to Djibril Sow’s cross in the 62nd.

It leaves Union one point above the relegation zone ahead of the rest of the sixth round, while Frankfurt are up to sixth.

Agencies