Leipzig's victory was sealed in the closing minutes of the game when substitute Marcelo Saracchi scored his first goal for the club since joining in 2018.

Bayern Munich are second, two points adrift, after a decisive 4-0 victory over struggling Cologne.

Philippe Coutinho netted his first goal in the German top flight after joining Niko Kovac's side on a loan deal from Barcelona in the summer.

The Brazilian's opportunity came after Cologne's Kingsley Ehizibue floored him inside the box and subsequently handed a penalty to the Bavarians.

Coutinho duly converted the chance into a goal, but was made to repeat his effort owing to the presence of Bayern players in the box.

No mistake was made on the second attempt as the midfielder scored and widened his side's advantage.

The scoreline included a double of efforts from the in-form Robert Lewandowski, with Inter Milan loanee Ivan Perisic also contributing.

Augsburg's Florian Niederlechner scored against former club Freiburg to prevent them from taking three points at the Schwarzwald Stadium.

A 23rd-minute strike from Lucas Holer had given the hosts the lead, but Niederlechner's equaliser 16 minutes later squared things up.

Peter Bosz's Bayer Leverkusen returned to winning ways after suffering their first league defeat this season at the hands of Borussia Dortmund.

A 20th-minute strike from Kevin Volland was swiftly followed by a second goal from Argentinian striker Lucas Alario against Union Berlin.

The top flight new boys failed to respond and were weakened in the 66th minute after a heavy challenge on Julian Baumgartlinger resulted in the sending off of Sebastian Polter, five minutes after he had replaced Marcus Ingvartsen.

Hertha Berlin climbed off the bottom with their first win of the season, 2-1 over Paderborn.

Dutch winger Javairo Dilrosun gave the home side the lead after 10 minutes and the margin was widened by Marius Wolf after the break.

Ben Zolinski pulled a goal back two minutes later but an equaliser did not appear and Steffen Baumgart's side are now at the foot of the table, the only side without a victory.