Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang grabbed a hat-trick as Borussia Dortmund romped to a 6-1 home thrashing of Borussia Monchengladbach to regain top spot in the Bundesliga on Saturday.
Gladbach had no answer to Peter Bosz’s fleet-footed Dortmund, which opened a two-point lead over Hoffenheim at the top in a perfect confidence boost before Tuesday’s Champions League clash with holder Real Madrid.
Aubameyang, last season’s top scorer in Germany’s top flight, has now netted eight goals in six league games — one ahead of main rival Robert Lewandowski of Bayern Munich.
Left-winger Maximilian Philipp scored Dortmund’s first two goals before Aubameyang’s hat-trick, with defensive midfielder Julian Weigl scoring a superb sixth.
“We were very dominant. It was an intense game and we can be very satisfied,” said Philipp, who also scored two goals against Cologne last weekend.
Weigl was delighted to score on only his second game back from injury.
“It feels great, the goal was the icing on the cake,” said the Germany midfielder.
“We were lucky that Gladbach did not use their chances and usually they have the quality to fix problems.”
Dortmund needed just 28 minutes to take the lead at Signal Iduna Park when Aubameyang, who hit the post twice in the first half, played provider.
A superb pass from Weigl released Aubameyang, who sprinted into the box and squared for Philipp to drill home and then grab a second ten minutes later thanks to Dortmund pressing.
After briefly losing possession, Dortmund defended high up, forcing Gladbach defender Matthias Ginter into a mistake.
Germany Under-21 international left-back Jeremy Toljan pounced on the loose ball and fired in a short cross for Philipp to score.
Greece defender Sokratis rolled the ball behind the defence and Philipp squared for Aubameyang to make it 3-0 at the break.
The Gabon striker grabbed his second when he hit the post on 49 minutes, but hammered home the rebound and completed his hat-trick by using his devastating pace on 63 minutes.
Gladach’s Lars Stindl became the first player to score against Dortmund in the league this season.
But Germany midfielder Weigl chipped into the top right-hand corner in the 79th minute from outside the area for a superb sixth.
Sixth win
In La Liga, Barcelona maintained its perfect start with a sixth straight win as Luis Suarez and two own goals secured a 3-0 win at Girona on Saturday.
The results: Premier League: On Saturday: Leicester 2 (Okazaki 45+3, Vardy 69) lost to Liverpool 3 (Salah 16, Coutinho 23, Henderson 68).
La Liga: Espanyol 4 (Baptistao 5, Arribas 22-og, Moreno 72-pen, 90) bt Deportivo la Coruna 1 (Borges 53); Getafe 4 (Rodriguez 54, 90+1, Molina 64, Bergara 67) bt Villarreal 0.
On Saturday: Malaga 3 (Rolan 35, 84, Baysse 81) drew with Athletic Bilbao 3 (Aduriz 4-pen, Williams 51, 70); Girona 0 lost to Barcelona 3 (Benitez 17-og, Iraizoz 48-og, Suarez 69).
Bundesliga: Hanover 0 drew with Cologne 0. On Saturday: Borussia Dortmund 6 (Philipp 28, 38, Aubameyang 45, 49, 62, Weigl 79) bt Monchengladbach 1 (Stindl 66).
Serie A: Sampdoria 2 (Zapata 72, Alvarez 90+1) bt AC Milan 0; On Saturday: SPAL 2 (Schiattarella 13, Viviani 77) lost to Napoli 3 (Insigne 14, Callejūn 71, Ghoulam 83); Juventus 4 (Dybala 16, 90+1, Pjanic 40, Sandro 57) bt Torino 0.