Christopher Nkunku scored one and set up another as RB Leipzig came from behind to dismantle Augsburg 5-2 at the Red Bull Arena and climb to third in the Bundesliga.
Leipzig trailed inside the opening minute, but Brajan Gruda inspired a blistering turnaround before David Raum, Rômulo and substitute Christoph Baumgartner completed a five-goal rout. Nigerian forward Uchenna Ogundu grabbed a late consolation for the visitors with his first Bundesliga goal.
Augsburg's dream start lasts 33 minutes
Augsburg could hardly have wished for a better opening. Anton Kade fired the visitors in front after just 60 seconds, silencing the Red Bull Arena and handing the team without a win in six league games the perfect platform.
For half an hour it worked. Augsburg sat deep, frustrated Leipzig and threatened to take a shock lead into the international break. But one moment of quality from Gruda changed everything, and the game never looked the same again.
Gruda and Nkunku turn the game on its head
Ezechiel Banzuzi levelled the scores in the 34th minute, drilling a left-footed strike into the bottom corner from 25 yards after Gruda had teed him up. Sixty seconds later, Leipzig were ahead.
Gruda skipped past two or three Augsburg challenges inside the box before dinking a cross to the far post, where Nkunku volleyed home for his first goal since his hat-trick against Eintracht Frankfurt in October. It was the Frenchman's second decisive contribution in as many minutes, and the stadium finally believed.
Captain David Raum then made it 3-1 with a spectacular direct free-kick in first-half stoppage time, and Leipzig went into the break firmly in control after a breathless 12-minute spell that produced three goals.
Rômulo and Baumgartner finish the job
Any hope of an Augsburg fightback died just after the hour. A flowing move down the left ended with Nkunku firing a low cross across goal for Rômulo to poke home from two yards, the Brazilian's fourth goal in three Bundesliga matches.
Head coach Martín Demichelis then made a triple substitution, sending on Antonio Nusa, Christoph Baumgartner and Benjamin Henrichs. Within a minute of their arrival, two of them had combined for a fifth, Nusa feeding Baumgartner to finish calmly and make it 5-1.
There was still time for a footnote with real meaning. Ogundu, the 20-year-old Nigerian forward who had come on in the 73rd minute, swept home a stoppage-time consolation for his first Bundesliga goal, a small personal milestone on an otherwise miserable afternoon for Augsburg.
What it means for the title race
Leipzig's third successive league win lifts them up to third in the table and extends their perfect home record this season. After losing to Manchester City in the Champions League in midweek, this was the perfect response, and the manner of it matters: five different goalscorers, Gruda pulling the strings, Nkunku back among the goals.
Demichelis made two changes from that European defeat, restoring Nkunku and Tidiam Gomis to the starting line-up, and both calls were vindicated. Castello Lukeba, the defender at the centre of a transfer race involving Barcelona, kept his place at the back as Leipzig's defence held firm after the early shock.
For Augsburg, the picture is bleak. Seven league games without a win, 13th in the table with nine points from nine matches, and a defence that conceded twice in two minutes and twice more within six minutes of the restart. The international break at least gives head coach Manuel Baum two weeks to find answers before the season resumes.
Beyond the Final Whistle: Leipzig are not just winning at home, they are entertaining, and that is what makes them dangerous. Gruda is emerging as one of the Bundesliga's best creators, Nkunku looks reborn back in Leipzig red and white, and a team that scores five from five different players does not need one star to carry it. If Demichelis keeps this front line fit, the title race has a third horse in it. Augsburg, meanwhile, look like a side waiting for the break to save them, and breaks rarely do.
What did you make of Leipzig's five-star display? Is Nkunku back to his best? Let us know in the comments.
