Leipzig stay top, goal for Coutinho
BERLIN: RB Leipzig stayed top of the Bundesliga on Saturday with a 3-0 win at Werder Bremen while Philippe Coutinho scored his first Bayern Munich goal as the defending champions climbed to second with a 4-0 rout of Cologne.
Bayern briefly had topped the table thanks to the win at the Allianz Arena before Leipzig replaced them despite finishing with 10 men in Bremen.
A first-half header by defender Willi Orban and a stunning free-kick by playmaker Marcel Sabitzer saw Leipzig go 2-0 up before midfielder Konrad Laimer was sent off for a second yellow card with 26 minutes remaining.
Leipzig made light of being a man down when they grabbed a late third when Marcelo Saracchi scored his first goal since joining from River Plate.
Earlier Robert Lewandowski put Bayern ahead after just 150 seconds after Joshua Kimmich split the Cologne defence.
He then doubled the hosts’ lead with a header from a corner at the start of the season half to take his league tally to nine in five games.
Coutinho, on loan from Barcelona, converted a penalty on the hour at the second attempt, after Lewandowski gave the Brazilian the chance despite being on a hat-trick.
“It was a spontaneous decision, we didn’t talk about it before the game,” Lewandowski said about giving Coutinho the spot-kick.
“It was important for him here at the Allianz Arena, for the future and his confidence. He is a great player and we must all help him.”
Kingsley Ehizibue had been shown a straight red card just before the penalty for bringing down Coutinho in the area when the Brazilian was one-onone with Cologne stopper Timo Horn.
Coutinho capped a superb display by setting up Ivan Perisic to slot the final goal on 73 minutes as Bayern climbed from fourth.
Third-placed Freiburg wasted the chance to go top as forward Lucas Hoeler gave them the lead only for striker Florian Niederlechner to equalise for Augsburg in a 1-1 draw.