Promoted RB Leipzig edged past Schalke 04 courtesy of a Sead Kolasinac own goal to recapture top spot in the Bundesliga on Saturday and stretch their astonishing winning run to eight consecutive matches.
Unbeaten Leipzig had briefly lost the lead to Bayern Munich, who eased past Mainz 05 3-1 on Friday, but they restored their three-point advantage over the champions with their 10th league win in 13 games so far.
The hosts needed just 19 seconds to earn a penalty with Timo Werner taking a spectacular dive and television replays showing no contact with Schalke goalkeeper Ralf Faehrmann.
The forward stepped up and converted the spot-kick for his eighth goal of the season amid a barrage of complaints from Schalke players.
Schalke, unbeaten in their previous 12 matches in all competitions, underlined their good form when Kolasinac drew them level in the 31st minute, tapping in at the far post after keeper Peter Gulacsi had punched away a shot.
The 23-year-old Bosnian turned from hero to villain, however, two minutes after the break when he attempted to clear an Emil Forsberg free kick but instead saw his glancing header go in his own goal to give the Bundesliga newcomers a 2-1 win, taking them to 33 points.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored twice as Borussia Dortmund crushed Borussia Moenchengladbach 4-1 to bounce back after last week’s defeat and continue their pursuit of the Bundesliga’s pace-setters.
The Gabon international cancelled out Raffael’s sixth-minute opener for Gladbach a minute later and Lukasz Piszczek headed Dortmund ahead in a hectic opening 15 minutes.
The hosts scored their third on the hour when Ousmane Dembele picked up a pass from Marco Reus, who was playing his first Bundesliga game of the season following injury, and shook off two markers before firing home.
Reus provided an even more impressive assist with a backflick for Aubameyang to score his 15th goal of the season. Out-of-form Gladbach have now gone eight games without a win and drop to 13th.
Dortmund’s victory lifted Thomas Tuchel’s team to fifth place, on 24 points, one behind fourth-placed Hoffenheim, for whom Sandro Wagner scored twice in the 4-0 win over Cologne, and three off third-placed Hertha Berlin.
Hertha needed a stoppage-time penalty from Salomon Kalou after Wolfsburg’s Paul Seguin was sent off following a second booking, to snatch a late 3-2 win.
