Gladbach routs Augsburg 5-1, moves top of the Bundesliga
BERLIN (AP) — Borussia Mönchengladbach moved top of the Bundesliga with its fourth straight win as it routed Augsburg 5-1 on Sunday.
Patrick Herrmann scored twice for Gladbach, which effectively decided the result in the first 13 minutes by racing into a three-goal lead.
"I don't want to get carried away," Gladbach's new coach Marco Rose said. "We have 16 points and are leaders in a very close league. But we still have a lot of work ahead of us."
Marcus Thuram surged forward and cut the ball back for Denis Zakaria in the second minute, Herrmann scored in similar fashion in the eighth - when Alassane Plea pulled the ball back - and Herrmann combined with Plea again to make it 3-0 in the 13th.
A mistake from Augsburg 'keeper Tomas Koubek gifted Plea the fourth goal in the 39th. Koubek tripped over his own feet as he attempted to control Felix Uduokhai's back pass and couldn't stop a grateful Plea from scoring.
Augsburg had a penalty appeal turned down through the VAR before the break after André Hahn went down under Yann Sommer's challenge. The visitors did pull one back in the 81st through Florian Niederlechner on a rebound after Sommer saved Fredrik Jensen's effort.
Herrmann set up Breel Embolo for Gladbach's fifth two minutes later.
Gladbach is one point ahead of second-place Wolfsburg and two points clear of Bayern Munich and four other teams after seven rounds. Bayern was stunned 2-1 at home by Hoffenheim on Saturday, the seven-time defending champion's first defeat of the season.
WOLFSBURG STAYS UNBEATEN
Wout Weghorst's 69th-minute strike was enough for Wolfsburg to defeat promoted Union Berlin 1-0 at home and stay just behind surprise leader Gladbach in second place.
Wolfsburg remains the only unbeaten team in the league, while Union dropped to the relegation zone.
"We have to get one in sometime when we're creating so many chances," Union coach Urs Fischer said.
Also Sunday, Eintracht Frankfurt was held 2-2 at home by Werder Bremen.
André Silva thought he'd scored Frankfurt's winning goal in the 88th minute, but the visitors had time to equalize with Milot Rashica's penalty kick.
