BERLIN — Florian Wirtz celebrated his Germany recall by leading Bayer Leverkusen to a 4-1 win at Augsburg in the Bundesliga on Saturday, keeping the visitors’ good form under new coach Gerardo Seoane.
The 18-year-old Wirtz was called up by new Germany coach Hansi Flick on Friday for upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Lichtenstein, Armenia and Iceland.
Leverkusen, which routed Borussia Mönchengladbach last weekend, got off to a great start when Augsburg’s Brazilian defender Iago chipped the ball over his own goalkeeper and into the net in the third minute.
Augsburg forward Florian Niederlechner added another own-goal in the 14th when he tried to stop Kerem Demirbay’s shot.
Niederlechner atoned by scoring in the 30th, profiting from a mix-up between Leverkusen defender Mitchel Bakker and goalkeeper Lukáš Hrádecky.
Leverkusen’s Moussa Diaby had a goal ruled out through VAR for a hand ball by Charles Aranguiz in the buildup.
Augsburg was pushing for an equalizer when Seoane reacted by bringing on Wirtz and Robert Andrich in the 65th. Wirtz made an immediate impact, setting up Patrik Schick in the 75th, then scoring himself in the 81st.
Freiburg held on for a 3-2 win in Stuttgart, which came from 3-0 down in the first half but couldn’t find any more goals in the second.
Cologne enjoyed a 2-1 win over promoted Bochum, Mainz beat promoted Greuther Fuerth 3-0 and Eintracht Frankfurt was held 1-1 at Arminia Bielefeld.
Bayern Munich hosted winless Hertha Berlin later Saturday.
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Ciarán Fahey on Twitter: https://twitter.com/cfaheyAP
