Bundesliga
Timo Werner: MD3's Man of the Matchday
They say that all good things come in threes and as far as RB Leipzig and Timo Werner are concerned, that could not be further from the truth.
Werner's hat-trick – his first in the Bundesliga – helped Leipzig to a 3-1 win over Borussia Mönchengladbach on Friday night which was, you guessed it, their third win out of three this season.
Three good reasons, therefore, to believe that Leipzig will be a force to be reckoned with this season, with Werner stepping up to the plate and delivering at the end of what has been a remarkable week on a personal and club level.
Watch: Werner reflects on his first ever Bundesliga hat-trick
Just hours before taking to the field on Matchday 2, Leipzig announced that Werner had extended his contract with them until 2023. What better a way to celebrate than with a goal in a 2-1 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt, and Werner duly obliged.
Five days later, Werner was at it again, putting Gladbach to the sword with his first ever Bundesliga hat-trick. "I'm obviously delighted," he told bundesliga.com. "I've scored quite a few braces recently, but I was never able to get a third, despite having some good chances. Thankfully I managed it today and I'm obviously very happy. It's nice to have managed it for the first time and I hope that there are more to come."
Werner, 23, joined Leipzig from VfB Stuttgart in 2016 and his return of 55 goals in 96 top-flight games for them is nothing short of remarkable. He's had the ball in the back of the net once every 47 minutes this season and that, he says, is down to the way the team are playing under Julian Nagelsmann this season.
"It would be too simple just to put it down to the new contract – I was scoring goals and providing assists at the end of last season too," he said. "It's just because we're playing so well as a team and I'm getting excellent service from my teammates and we're trying to play football out from the back, and it's worked fantastically in these first three games."
Thanks to Werner's early-season explosion, Leipzig lead the way heading into the first international break of the season, after which they have the mouth-watering prospect of the visit of Bayern Munich to the Red Bull Arena. Although still very early in the season, that fixture could nevertheless say a lot about Leipzig's credentials this season.
"Now we've got a fantastic home game against Bayern and if we can get something from that, then it could really give us some momentum for the whole season," added Werner, who will not be expecting a rest over the coming fortnight as he looks to take his current form with him into Germany's key UEFA EURO 2020 qualifiers against the Netherlands and Northern Ireland.