Leverkusen returns to summit

Strikes from Alex Grimaldo, Jeremie Frimpong and an own-goal lifted Bayer Leverkusen to a 3-0 win at Werder Bremen on Saturday and a return to the top of the Bundesliga.

Xabi Alonso's men started the match in second place after Harry Kane scored in Bayern Munich's 1-0 victory over Cologne on Friday, but won comfortably and ended the weekend two points clear atop the table.

Leverkusen has won 17 and drawn one of its 18 fixtures in all competitions this season.

"We are in a great dynamic," Leverkusen midfielder Granit Xhaka, formerly of Arsenal, told Sky Germany.

"We're playing well and everything is going in the right direction at the moment.

"We've a team that listens, that pushes itself to the limit, and that's the only way to win."

Leverkusen was gifted the opener as Bremen midfielder Olivier Deman scored a bizarre early own-goal. The Belgian failed to control a cross and the ball bobbled into the far corner.

Frimpong added a second just before halftime, blasting into the top corner.

Bremen's Marvin Ducksch, fresh off making his Germany debut, looked to have cut the lead by scoring on the counter in the second half, but the goal was chalked off by VAR for offside.

Grimaldo sealed the result with a third with 15 minutes remaining for his fourth goal in his past three league matches.

In Saturday's late game, goals from Deniz Undav in the first and last minutes of the opening half took Stuttgart to a 2-1 win at Eintracht Frankfurt.

Stuttgart's Waldemar Anton conceded a freak own-goal, the ball bouncing off his head and into the net, in the first half but Frankfurt lacked energy.

Frankfurt, who lost their first home match for over a year, was clearly missing the support of their fans, who walked out in protest over claims of heavy-handed police controls at the stadium before the game.

"It wasn't our best game but we showed our mentality and fought hard," Undav said.

The win allowed Stuttgart, who narrowly avoided relegation last year, to consolidate third place behind Leverkusen and Bayern.

More history for Harry

No other player has ever scored 18 goals in the first 12 rounds of the Bundesliga, while Kane also became the first English player to reach 18 goals in a single Bundesliga season, overtaking the 17 scored both by Jadon Sancho for Borussia Dortmund (2019-20) and Kevin Keegan for Hamburg (1978-79).

"One-nil, we probably know we could have scored a couple more in the first half but, really, a great victory," Kane said.

Thomas Mueller had to be content to watch from the sideline again on Friday as coach Thomas Tuchel opted for Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting in support of star forward Kane.

It was the eighth league game in which the Bayern veteran sat among the substitutes — this time for the whole match.

Mueller hasn't started any of Bayern's four Champions League games so far, while the only time he played a full match this season was in Bayern's shock 2-1 loss to third-division team Saarbrucken in the German Cup.

The goal came on a counterattack when Choupo-Moting's shot was cleared off the line by Julian Chabot — but only as far as Kane, who gratefully sent the ball inside the right post.

"It was a nice one that fell to me, probably one of the easier ones I'll score in my career," Kane said. "But that first half, we created some really good chances, some clear chances. It was just unlucky, a few bobbles on the pitch."

Agencies