BERLIN, Sept. 8 -- Second-half goals from Naby Keita and Timo Werner helped Leipzig beat Hamburg 2-0 at the opener of the 3rd round in Bundesliga on Friday.
Leipzig wrapped up their second win of the season with a 2-0 victory over Hamburg, who suffered their first loss.
Both sides staged an evenly balanced first half with opportunities at both ends of the pitch before Leipzig turned up after the half time to smooth 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 before Hamburg's Filip Kostic was unable to beat goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi from 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 meters 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 equalizer seven minutes later.
The "Bulls" 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 meanwhile Hamburg slumped to the 5th place for now.
The following fixtures are scheduled for Saturday: Freiburg host front-runners Borussia Dortmund, Hoffenheim clash with runner-up Bayern Munich, Borussia Monchengladbach face Eintracht Frankfurt, Augsburg see Cologne, Mainz meet Bayer Leverkusen and Wolfsburg take on Hannover.