Schick strikes again as Leverkusen beat Augsburg

Augsburg 1-4 Leverkusen
Goals: 0-1 Iago (o.g. 4'), 0-2 Niederlechner (o.g. 14'), 1-2 Niederlechner (30'), 1-3 Schick (75'), 1-4 Wirtz (81')

Augsburg's difficult start to the season became even more complicated after just a handful of minutes when Iago chipped the ball into his own goal in an attempt to deny Schick a shot at goal. At the other end, Andre Hahn's appeals for a penalty were waved away after he went down under the challenge of Mitchel Bakker when he had only Lukas Hradecky to beat. Kerem Demirbay almost doubled Leverkusen's lead, but his shot was deflected behind for a corner which he took short for Exequiel Palacios. They exchanged passes and Demirbay took aim, with his goalbound effort taking a slight deflection off the head of Florian Niederlechner to beat Rafal Gikiewicz inside his near post. Paulinho could have made it three when he curled a shot just wide of the far post, while Rafal Gikiewicz did well to deny Paulinho with a fine one-handed save before Niederlechner accepted a gift from Bakker to give Augsburg some hope before half-time, scrambling the ball in after the Leverkusen defender and Hradecky had got in each other's way.

The goal gave Augsburg belief and Carlos Gruezo tested Hradecky, who made a great save to turn his shot behind for a corner. VAR was used to rule out a Moussa Diaby effort just before half-time, with Charles Aranguiz handling the ball in the build-up. The guests continued to look closer to a third goal than Augsburg did to an equaliser, though, and Schick nearly supplied it when he lobbed Gikiewicz, but sent his ball also over the crossbar just shy of the hour mark. The Czech Republic striker then got the goal his performance deserved, showing excellent strength to hold off a challenge before powering an unstoppable shot past Gikiewicz. Substitute Wirtz added the cherry on top for Die Werkself, nudging the ball past the onrushing Gikiewicz before slotting a shot into the unguarded goal to make it four and become the youngest player ever to score seven in Germany's top flight. Schick sent another shot against the crossbar before debutant Amine Adli hit the post. The final whistle put Augsburg out of their misery, leaving Markus Weinzierl's men still winless after three matches as Leverkusen marched to the top of the pile.

• Niederlechner scored his second Bundesliga own-goal; his last was also a header and also against Leverkusen, in a 3-0 loss on September 28, 2019.
• The last time there were two own goals in a single Bundesliga match was in Hertha Berlin's 3-0 win over Schalke on August 31, 2019.
• At 18 years, 3 months and 25 days, Wirtz became the youngest player in Bundesliga history to score seven goals. He surpasses the previous record holder Timo Werner.
• Augsburg were the last of the 18 Bundesliga clubs to score their first goal of the current season.
• Augsburg have never beaten Leverkusen in the Bundesliga in 21 attempts (D7, L14).
• Schick has scored 21 goals in 54 Bundesliga appearances.

Watch: Schick: "We have a great team"

Augsburg: Gikiewicz - Gumny (Framberger 84'), Oxford, Uduokhai (c), Iago - Gruezo (Pedersen 76'), Dorsch - Caligiuri (Jensen 66'), Hahn (Sarenren Bazee 84'), Vargas – Niederlechner (Gregoritsch 76')
Unused subs: Koubek, Winther, Finnbogason, Civeja
Out:  Gouweleeuw (groin), Moravek (groin), Strobl (ankle)
Coach: Markus Weinzierl

Leverkusen: Hradecky (c) - Frimpong, Kossounou, Tah, Bakker (Sinkgraven 84') - Aranguiz, Palacios (Andrich 65') - Diaby (Adli 84'), Demirbay (Amiri 81'), Paulinho (Wirtz 65') - Schick
Unused subs: Lunev, Retsos, Pohjanpalo, Hincapie
Out: Alario (groin), Baumgartlinger (knee), Bellarabi (thigh), Fosu-Mensah (knee), Tapsoba (ankle)
Coach: Gerardo Seoane

Watch: Seoane: "I'm not Harry Potter, I can't look in the future"