BERLIN: Niclas Fuellkrug scored for the sixth straight Bundesliga match as his Werder Bremen side won 3-2 at Mainz on Saturday, while RB Leipzig thumped promoted Elversberg.
Fuellkrug, who returned to Bremen on loan from English Championship side West Ham in the summer, converted two penalties inside the opening 25 minutes to notch up a second straight Bundesliga brace.
Ludovit Reis grabbed Bremen’s other goal, while Anthony Caci and Lee Jae-sung scored for the hosts.
Fuellkrug now has eight goals this season, half of his total in his final campaign in Bremen in 2022/23, when he won the Bundesliga top-goalscorer award.
The Germany striker scored just three goals during an injury-hit 18-month spell at West Ham and just one in a six-month loan at AC Milan.
Bremen coach praised his in-form striker, telling reporters: “You can tell that he feels comfortable.
“He is our guiding star — and he’s shining brightly right now. He’s carrying this team along with him.”
RB Leipzig rebounded from their 4-1 thumping away at Real Madrid midweek with a comfortable 4-0 home win over promoted Elversberg.
Romulo scored a double while Tidiam Gomis, who scored Leipzig’s only goal at the Bernabeu, and Christoph Baumgartner also got on the scoresheet as the Saxons climbed to fifth.
Paderborn’s Rayan Philippe scored in the 88th minute against his parent club Hamburg to grab the promoted side a 1-0 victory in what was just their second win of the season.
Augsburg drew 1-1 with Union Berlin as both sides finished with 10 men. Han-Noah Massengo scored for the hosts on the 71-minute mark but Union’s Janik Haberer levelled things up three minutes later.
Elsewhere, Cologne and Schalke played out a scoreless draw in a match marred by an ugly clash of heads between visiting players Robin Gosens and Soufiane El-Faouzi, who both left the field after the first-half collision.
Later on Saturday, Borussia Dortmund can move ahead of Bayern Munich atop the table by avoiding defeat at home against Eintracht Frankfurt.
Bayern, who play at Freiburg on Sunday, are without coach Vincent Kompany for the foreseeable future, with the former Manchester City defender still in hospital with a mystery illness after collapsing on the training pitch on Friday.