Leipzig down Hamburg 2-0 in Bundesliga

Second-half goals from Naby Keita and Timo Werner helped Leipzig beat Hamburg 2-0 in the opener of the 3rd round in the Bundesliga football championship here.

Leipzig on Friday wrapped up their second win of the season with the victory over Hamburg, who suffered their first loss, reports Xinhua news agency.

Both sides staged an evenly balanced first half with opportunities at both ends of the pitch before Leipzig turned up the heat after half time to smoothen the way for the win.

Leipzig should have opened the scoring early in the game but Jean-Kevin Augustin's back-heel effort rattled only the outside of the post as Hamburg's Filip Kostic was unable to beat goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi from a promising position.

After the restart, Leipzig increased the pressure whereas the hosts defended deep. As a result, the visitors broke the deadlock when Naby Keita hammered home the opener from 20 metres into the top right corner with 67 minutes into the game.

Hamburg responded almost out of the blue but Leipzig's goalkeeper Gulacsi denied Sven Schipplock's golden chance for the equaliser seven minutes later.

Liepzig destroyed all hopes of a comeback with a counter attack moments later when Kevin Kampl's through ball allowed Timo Werner to sew up the 2-0 win after overcoming Hamburg's Christian Mathenia following a one-on-one.

With the win, Leipzig moved to the 3rd place of the Bundesliga standings while Hamburg slumped to the fifth place.

--IANS

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