Leverkusen hold on, jump to second

BERLIN (AFP) ― Bayer Leverkusen were temporarily stopped by some local lightning strikes but ended up beating FC Augsburg 1-0 on Wednesday to remain on the heels of Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich.

South Korean international winger Son Heung-min scored the game-winner as Leverkusen jumped to 10 points for second place, one point behind Bayern, who breezed past previous surprise leaders SC Paderborn 4-0 to move to 11 points on Tuesday.

After Son scored in the 33rd minute, the Leverkusen match was delayed in the 39th minute for nine minutes with referee Guido Winkmann sending the teams into the BayArena catacombs because of heavy lightning nearby.

Hanover 96 pulled even with Leverkusen on points in third place after a 1-0 victory over FC Cologne.

Spaniard Joselu found the back of the net for Hanover in the sixth minute and Cologne’s offensive problems continued having scored just two goals this season.

Borussia Dortmund lost ground on the group of leaders with seven points for eighth place after a 2-2 draw at home against previously last-placed VfB Stuttgart, who sacked sporting director Fredi Bobic earlier in the day.

Stuttgart had scored just once this season coming into the game but Daniel Didavi collected a brace in the 48th and 68th minutes for a 2-0 lead.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang pulled a goal back for Dortmund in the 73rd minute and Ciro Immobile secured at least one point with his score in the 86th minute.

Bayern Munich on Tuesday restored some normality to the Bundesliga table as the reigning champions eased past surprise early leaders SC Paderborn 4-0 to take over first place.

Mario Goetze scored two goals in the eighth and 78th minutes with Robert Lewandowski making it 2-0 in the 14th minute and Thomas Mueller adding a fourth score in the 85th minute.

Borussia Moenchengladbach moved to nine points with a 1-0 home victory on Wednesday over Hamburg, who haven’t scored a goal this season thus far and are last with two points.

Max Kruse won the game for Gladbach with his score in the 25th minute.

Hoffenheim missed their chance to keep pace with Munich but Jannik Vestergaard scored three minutes into injury time to secure a 3-3 draw at home to SC Freiburg and see them move on to nine points for fourth place.

Mike Frantz scored in the 32nd and 33rd minutes for Freiburg. Tarik Elyounoussi pulled back a goal in the 44th minute and Sebastian Rudy equalised for Hoffenheim from a free kick after 63 minutes.

Freiburg went ahead as Vladimir Darida converted a penalty in the 75th minute. But the Czech international was sent off six minutes later, setting up Vestergaard’s heroics.

Haris Seferovic scored in the 82nd minute to secure a 2-2 draw for Eintracht Frankfurt at home against Mainz.

Jonas Hofmann gave Mainz the lead after 41 minutes and Shinji Okazaki grabbed his fifth of the season for the visitors in the 44th minute.

But Alexander Maier halved the deficit for Frankfurt a minute into injury time before Seferovic secured the point.

Schalke picked up their first victory of the season with a double strike early in the second half to beat Werder Bremen 3-0 on the road.

Max Meyer scored in the 48th minute and Roman Neustaedter doubled the lead in the 51st minute for Schalke and Tranquillo Barnetta made it 3-0 in the 85th minute.

“We had a lot of pressure coming into the game. But we really played a strong second half,” said Schalke coach Jens Keller, who was without suspended leaders Julian Draxler and Kevin-Prince Boateng.

In Wednesday’s other match, Hertha Berlin picked up their first victory of the season with a 1-0 win at home over VfL Wolfsburg thanks to Salomon Kalou’s goal in the 35th minute.