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Leverkusen ease past Fortuna to maintain winning start

Bayer Leverkusen scored three times in the first half to ease past hosts Fortuna Duesseldorf 3-1 on Saturday and join leaders Borussia Dortmund with maximum points from their first two Bundesliga matches.

Published August 24,2019
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A devastating first half performance brought Bayer Leverkusen a 3-1 win away to Fortuna Dusseldorf on Saturday while Freiburg also stayed perfect in the Bundesliga with a 3-1 triumph at Paderborn.

A Lewis Baker own goal, Charles Aranguiz and Karim Bellarabi had Leverkusen cruising before the break in Dusseldorf. They are third in the table on six points, behind leaders Borussia Dortmund who won 3-1 at Cologne on Friday.

Freiburg went second as Luca Waldschmidt, Nils Petersen and Kwon Chang Hoon secured a come-from-behind victory at promoted Paderborn. Fellow newcomers Union Berlin drew 1-1 at Augsburg, Hoffenheim beat 10-man Werder Bremen 3-2 and Mainz lost 3-1 at home to Borussia Moenchengladbach.

Champions Bayern Munich look for their first league win away to Schalke in Saturday's late game.

Leverkusen laboured to an opening win over Paderborn but turned on the style in Dusseldorf from the sixth minute.

Kevin Volland's cut back was turned over the line by the unfortunate Baker, Aranguiz fired home from a free kick and Volland set up Bellarabi in a sensational opening half.

Dusseldorf had started with an impressive win away to Bremen but were outclassed in front of their own fans even if Alfredo Morales grabbed a late consolation.

Freiburg fought back from Streli Mamba's early opener in Paderborn to go third in the table. Luca Waldschmidt punished Christian Strohdiek's handball with a clinical penalty and Petersen pounced before the break to turn the game which Kwon made safe in the last minute.

Paderborn coach Steffen Baumgart made some unwanted Bundesliga history as the first boss to receive a yellow card for complaining to the referee.

Hoffenheim trailed to Werder as Niclas Fuellkrug headed the opener from a corner.

Ermin Bicakcic and Ihlas Bebou, in four minutes before the hour, put the hosts ahead before Yuya Osaka equalized after Werder's Johannes Eggestein was red carded.

Pavel Kaderabek struck three minutes from time though to give Hoffenheim coach Alfred Schreuder a first win and leave Bremen pointless.

Sebastian Andersson scored Union Berlin's first-ever Bundesliga goal to equalize in Augsburg after Ruben Vargas had notched the opener for the hosts. Keven Schlotterbeck saw straight red late on but Union held on for a historic point.

Mainz led Gladbach through Robin Quaison's header but Stefan Lainer levelled for the guests before late strikes by Alassane Plea and Breel Embolo won it.