DORTMUND: RB Leipzig continued to lose ground on Bundesliga league leaders Bayern Munich with a 4-3 defeat at lowly Hoffenheim on Saturday, while Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen registered big wins.
Hoffenheim came from a goal down to equalize three times and hit the lead with four minutes remaining on a wild debut for new manager Christian Ilzer.
Hoffenheim’s Adam Hlozek collected a brace while Tom Bischof scored a clever free kick and Jakob Bruun Larsen was responsible for the winner in the 86th minute.
Leipzig’s efforts came through Willi Orban, Antonio Nusa and an own goal from Hoffenheim’s Stanley Nsoki.
Equal on points with Bayern just three matchdays ago, Leipzig have lost two and drawn one and now sit eight behind the league leaders.
Leipzig had only conceded five goals in the league season before Saturday’s outing.
Eintracht Frankfurt can leapfrog Leipzig into second place and close the gap on Bayern to six points when they host Werder Bremen later on Saturday.
In Dortmund, the home side won 4-0 over Freiburg thanks to goals from Maximilian Beier, Felix Nmecha, Julian Brandt and Jamie Gittens, while the visitors finished with nine men.
Under fire and sitting outside the European placings coming into the match, Dortmund’s one saving grace this league campaign has been their home form, with five wins from five.
The hosts got on track early, when Beier, who scored a double for Germany’s under-21s against France this week, opening the scoring seven minutes in.
Midfielder Nmecha, who scored for Germany’s senior side in their 1-1 draw in Hungary midweek, added a second with a superb long-range effort on the 40th-minute mark.
Freiburg’s hopes of a comeback were snuffed out after 63 minutes when Patrick Osterhage picked up a second yellow card for a rough tussle with Marcel Sabitzer.
From the ensuing free kick, Dortmund’s Brandt curled the ball home and England winger Gittens curled in a fourth to seal the match with 13 minutes remaining.
Freiburg’s Junior Adamu saw straight red for striking Dortmund’s Waldemar Anton in stoppage time, reducing his side to nine men.
Dortmund have now won their past six against Freiburg, scoring 24 and conceding five.
Defending champions Leverkusen came from two goals down to win 5-2 at home against Heidenheim thanks to a hat-trick from Patrick Schick.
Heidenheim, who host Chelsea in the Conference League on Thursday, were two goals up within 21 minutes, with Niklas Dorsch and Mathias Honsak taking advantage of some sleepy defense.
World Cup winner Exequiel Palacios pulled one back on the half-hour mark before Schick, in for the injured Victor Boniface, scored three unanswered goals to wrestle back control of the match before Granit Xhaka added a fifth with eight minutes remaining.
Last season’s runners-up Stuttgart scored two second-half goals through Chris Fuehrich and Justin Diehl to win 2-0 at home over last-placed Bochum, who have just one point from 11 games this season.
Elsewhere, Wolfsburg’s Ridle Baku scored the only goal as his side defeated Union Berlin 1-0 at home.

PARIS: Paris Saint-Germain retained a six-point lead at the top of Ligue 1 after a labored 3-0 home win over Toulouse on Friday.

The defending champion dominated the first half but it took until the 35th minute to open the scoring.

Young Portuguese midfielder Joao Neves spun to meet a cross from the right and struck a superb half volley from just outside the box.

Lucas Beraldo got a second with six minutes remaining when he pounced on loose ball and fired home.

Vitinha made it 3-0 in stoppage time when he showed fine footwork inside the box to finish off a quick counterattack.

The scoreline was harsh on Toulouse, who came into the game in a more even second half.

Only Vitinha’s last-gasp tackle stopped Zakaria Aboukhlal from equalizing after 69 minutes and then Shavy Babicka blazed over from close range a minute later when he should have hit the target.

The win was a confidence boost for Luis Enrique’s side ahead of next Tuesday’s Champions League encounter at Bayern Munich.

PSG lie in 25th place in the 36-team Champions League table with one win in four matches and outside the playoff spots.

Monaco beat Brest

The win came immediately after second-placed Monaco beat Brest 3-2 to briefly close the gap at the top to three points.

Brest, who face Barcelona next week in the Champions League, turned in another inconsistent French league performance and not the sparkling form they have shown in Europe.

Brest have struggled in Ligue 1, where they remain 12th, but shone with three wins from four in their first-ever Champions League campaign.

It was behind after just five minutes on Friday when Maghnes Akliouche scored with a superb airborne volley, and 2-0 down after 24 minutes thanks to Aleksandr Golovin.

The Russian striker seized on a poor pass just outside the Brest penalty area and his low shot was perfectly placed to sneak in off the post and give him his first goal in nine league appearances.

On-loan Brighton striker Abdallah Sima used his 1.88-meter frame to outjump the Monaco defense four minutes into the second half and cut the deficit but Akliouche restored Monaco’s two-goal cushion when he brilliantly finished a quick counterattack in stoppage time.

Ludovic Ajorque got a second for Brest in the sixth minute of added time but it was not enough in a second half most notable for the red card shown to Brest coach Eric Roy.