Werner shines in Leipzig’s win over Hertha as Duesseldorf hold Schalke

Timo Werner netted twice as RB Leipzig went second in the Bundesliga with a 4-1 win at Hertha Berlin on Saturday’s 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Borussia Dortmund can go top of the German league table with a win at Bayern Munich, but prior to the showdown, Leipzig took their chance to climb in the capital, where the Berlin Wall fell on Nov.9, 1989.

A replica of the Wall, which divided Germany’s capital from 1961 until November 9, 1989, separated Hertha and Leipzig before being knocked down prior to kick-off as midfielder Maximilian Mittelstaedt gave the hosts a first-half lead in Berlin.

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 added a late third with a superb left-footed strike from the edge of the area before Werner grabbed his second for his 11th league goals in as many games. Hertha striker Davie Selke then added a late second against his former club.

The victory leaves Leipzig just a point behind leaders Borussia Moenchengladbach, who are 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.

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.

FC 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 to make it 3-2 on 90 minutes. Augsburg climbed out of the bottom three with a 1-0 win at last-placed side Paderborn as defender Philipp Max, part of the Germany team which won men’s football silver at the 2016 Olympics, scored their winner.

Meanwhile, Bundesliga strugglers Cologne have sacked both sports director Armin Veh and head coach Achim Beierlorzer following their eighth league defeat in 11 games.

Sports director Veh was dismissed immediately after the final whistle of Friday’s 2-1 defeat, thanks to a late penalty at home to Hoffenheim, which left Cologne second from bottom.

Then coach Beierlorzer, who had only been in charge for 132 days, was shown the door on Saturday.

Veh, who coached Stuttgart to the 2007 Bundesliga title, was due to leave next May, but was sacked after Hoffenheim converted a penalty in the eighth minute of injury time to seal Friday’s result.

With Veh gone, it fell to Aehling, a senior member of the backroom staff, to cancel Saturday’s training session and speak to the players after confirming Beierlorzer’s departure.

Caretaker coaches have been appointed to prepare for their next game against high-flying RB Leipzig in a fortnight.

Cologne are working on “finding a new head coach” who will “make a new start with our team” to try to lift them in the table, added Aehlig.

After the club secured promotion last season, Beierlorzer took charge in July, but was sacked after just five months.

He is the second Bundesliga head coach fired this week after defending champions Bayern Munich dismissed Niko Kovac.

Agencies