Bundesliga
An Andre Silva brace as well as goals from Timo Werner, Dani Olmo, Benjamin Henrichs and Yussuf Poulsen paved the way for RB Leipzig to extend their unbeaten run to 15 games in a 6-1 win over bottom club Schalke.
Schalke 1-6 RB Leipzig
Goals: 0-1 Silva 7' , 0-2 Henrichs 15' (assist: Olmo), 0-3 Silva (44'), 0-4 Werner 45' (assist: Olmo), 1-4 Kozuki 56' (assist: Frey), 1-5 Olmo (83'), 1-6 Poulsen 89' (assist: Kampl)
All eyes were on these teams in the opening fixture of Matchday 17 and Leipzig began as if determined to put on a show. There were just seven minutes on the clock when Timo Werner sprinted behind the Schalke defence to collect a long ball forward before holding off two defenders and creating space for Silva, who lashed a shot into the bottom-left corner from the edge of the box. Not content to rest on their laurels or give the home side even the tiniest sliver of hope, the visitors continued to push forward and soon doubled their lead when Olmo found the unmarked Henrichs arriving on the right, and the defender left Alexander Schwolow no chance with an arrowed drive into the corner. Worse was to come for the Royal Blues on the stroke of half-time when Silva prodded in on the rebound after Schwolow could only parry another Olmo shot, before the Spaniard teed up Werner to tap in his fifth goal of the season.
Perhaps understandably given the size of their lead and another game against VfB Stuttgart coming up on Friday, Leipzig eased off early in the second half – but Schalke were in no mood to simply roll over. Instead, they pulled a goal back when newcomer Michael Frey found Soichiro Kozuki, whose brilliant first touch took him away from Josko Gvardiol and Willi Orban, allowing him to finish beyond Janis Blaswich. Buoyed by that success and with the home crowd now roaring them on, Schalke continued to probe and went close again when Mehmet Aydin's rasping drive whistled narrowly past the post. Olmo made sure there was to be no late drama, however, lifting an audacious chip over a crowded penalty area and into the top corner past Schwolow's despairing dive, before substitute Poulsen rounded out what was, for the most part, a comfortable evening's work for Marco Rose's side.
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Watch: Olmo on his sublime chip
Schalke: Schwolow - Brunner, Yoshida, Matriciani, Uronen (Aydin 46') - Latza (c), Krauß (Drexler 45'+3) - Kozuki (Terodde 80'), Larsson (Ivan 46'), Bülter - Frey (Mohr 80')
Unused subs: Fährmann, Greiml, Kaminski, Karaman
Out: Heekeren (cruciate ligament), Kral (back), Ouwejan (knee), Polter (knee), Tauer (muscular), van den Berg (ankle), Zalazar (metatarsal)
Coach: Thomas Reis
Leipzig: Blaswich - Henrichs, Orban (c), Gvardiol, Halstenberg (Raum 85') - Szoboszlai (Forsberg 71'), Laimer (Haidara 77'), Schlager (Kampl 85'), Olmo - Silva, Werner (Poulsen 77')
Unused subs: Nyland, Klostermann, Ba
Out: Gulacsi (knee), Nkunku (knee), Simakan (muscular)
Coach: Marco Rose
Watch: Silva: "Olmo wanted to cross for me!"