Bayern win without Kompany, Hoffenheim stop Leverkusen: four things from matchday 7

Bayern Munich won 3-1 at Freiburg on Sunday with assistant Aaron Danks in charge, two days after head coach Vincent Kompany collapsed on Friday. The result lifts Bayern level on 17 points with Borussia Dortmund at the top of the Bundesliga before the two meet in Munich next Saturday.

1. Bayern win for an absent coach

Kompany, 40, collapsed on Friday while watching Bayern's amateur side train after the first team's final session, and an emergency doctor was called. Before kick-off Danks told DAZN that Kompany was stable and improving every day; when he might return is not yet known. Bayern were also without Manuel Neuer, Joshua Kimmich, Luis Díaz and Aleksandar Pavlović. Dayot Upamecano scored on a counter-attack set up by Michael Olise in the 16th minute and Serge Gnabry added a second before half-time. Tom Bischof's own goal in the 82nd minute made it tense until Olise scored the third in stoppage time, after a mistake by Freiburg goalkeeper Mio Backhaus. "Today's win is three points, but it is a much bigger win than just three points," said Bayern sporting director Max Eberl. Danks said that when he switched his phone on after the match, a WhatsApp message of congratulations from Kompany was already waiting.

2. Dortmund and Bayern level before the Klassiker

Dortmund had briefly gone top on Saturday with a 1-0 home win over Eintracht Frankfurt. Substitute Maximilian Beier scored the winner in the 80th minute, after Serhou Guirassy had hit the crossbar with a header. The club had played away in Bodø, Berlin and Baku in the previous ten days, more than 11,000 kilometres of travel. Both leaders have five wins and two draws from seven games, and Bayern go back to first on goal difference (+19 against +8). "We are unbeaten, we go to Bayern next week and we want to play a good game there," said Dortmund defender Nico Schlotterbeck. Before the Klassiker, as the Bayern–Dortmund fixture is known, Dortmund play Werder Bremen in the DFB-Pokal on Tuesday. Freiburg, now on three straight defeats in all competitions, and Bayer Leverkusen are four points back on 13.

3. A 1,000th goal and a costly celebration in Hoffenheim

Hoffenheim beat Leverkusen 3-0, with all three goals from the 79th minute on. Substitute Andrej Kramarić converted a penalty in the 79th minute for the club's 1,000th Bundesliga goal. Alexander Prass made it 2-0 in the 89th minute, then took his shirt off to celebrate and was sent off for a second yellow card. "The team will sort that out, he'll be handed something for it," said Hoffenheim coach Christian Ilzer. Just before the second goal, Leverkusen's Loïc Badé and Hoffenheim's Max Moerstedt clashed heads near the centre circle, and Badé was carried off on a stretcher. "The most important thing is that he is fine, he is talking to us, he has had a shower," said Leverkusen coach Carles Martínez. Moerstedt recovered and scored the third. Referee Daniel Siebert went off injured at half-time and Robert Hartmann took over. It was the first league game this season in which Leverkusen failed to score.

4. Leipzig recover at home

RB Leipzig beat promoted Elversberg 4-0 after defeats at Bayern (1-6) and Real Madrid (1-4). All four goals came after half-time: Tidiam Gomis opened the scoring, Rômulo scored twice after coming on at the break and Christoph Baumgartner headed in on his return from a long injury. It was Leipzig's ninth home win in a row across two seasons, and they have not conceded at home in four games this season. Coach Martín Demichelis changed eight players from the Champions League side. "After the two defeats, in the eyes of the whole world it was our duty to win here today, but we came up against a nasty team," he told Sportschau. Leipzig are fifth on 12 points, level with Werder Bremen.