James & Lewandowski see off Leipzig as Bayern go top of the Bundesliga

James & Lewandowski see off Leipzig as Bayern go top of the Bundesliga

James cuajó un gran encuentro ante el Leipzig
James cuajó un gran encuentro ante el Leipzig | AFP
EFE

The Colombian opened the scoring and the Pole clinched the points

Leipzig played most of the game with 10 men after Orban was sent off

James Rodriguez and Robert Lewandowski scored as Bayern Munich went top of the Bundesliga table on Saturday with a 2-0 home win against RB Leipzig, who played most of the game with 10 men.

This was Bayern's second win over RB in four days after they won on penalties in Leipzig in midweek in the German Cup.

Leipzig had Naby Keita sent off in the second half of Wednesday's cup defeat and another red card handicapped them at the Allianz Arena on Saturday when captain Willi Orban was sent off with 13 minutes gone.

Orban was shown a straight red for fouling Arjen Robben, who was through on goal, before James and Lewandowski netted for the hosts.

A fine evening for Bayern was slightly marred by a thigh injury to Lewandowski that forced him off before half-time and which could compromise his chances of playing in Tuesday's Champions League match at Celtic.

"I hope the injury isn't so grave because he came off early," said Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes.

The victory took Bayern top of the Bundesliga for the first time this season, three points ahead of Borussia Dortmund who earlier crashed 4-2 at Hanover 96.

Leipzig remain third, four points behind the leaders.

The visitors were quickly reduced to 10 men in Munich when Robben went to ground after a push from Orban on the edge of the area.

The referee checked the video before getting out the red card, just before Leipzig goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi denied Robben from the resulting free kick.

Nevertheless, Bayern took the lead five minutes later when Robben's cross was smashed home by James.

Lewandowski made it 2-0 on 38 minutes when a perfectly-timed pass from Javi Martinez was finished by the Poland hot-shot.

After Lewandowski limped off, Bayern struggled to finish their chances after the break while Leipzig defended doggedly.

The visitors were reduced to nine men for the final five minutes when Keita limped off after they had already made their three substitutions.

"We started well, but in the second half we played really badly with a man extra," said Bayern defender Jerome Boateng.

"We have to talk about that, because it's not on."

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