Augsburg's Raul Bobadilla (L) vies with Leverkusen's Aleksandar Dragovic during a German Bundesliga match between FC Augsburg and Bayer 04 Leverkusen, in Augsburg, Germany, on Feb. 17, 2017. Augsburg lost 1-3. (Xinhua/Philippe Ruiz)
BERLIN, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Bayer Leverkusen moved 3-1 past Augsburg owing to the brace from Javier Hernandez at the opener of the 21st round in Bundesliga on Friday.
The "Werkself" did not only reap the ninth win of the season but they also scored the 50,000th goal in the history of the Bundesliga through Karim Bellarabi, who marked the opener against the Augsburg.
Both sides staged an evenly balanced encounter from the kick-off. It were yet the visitors who broke the deadlock as Kai Havertz' square pass found Bellarabi, who netted the 50,000th goal in the history of Germany's top flight with 23 minutes into the game.
Augsburg almost restored parity ten minutes later but Ja-Cheol Koo was unable to overcome onrushing Leverkusen's goalkeeper Bernd Leno following a one-on-one at the edge of the box.
Leverkusen punished the hosts' poor chance conversion as Javier Hernandez completed a combination via Havertz to double the advantage five minutes before the half-time whistle.
After the restart, the "Fuggerstaedter" piled on the pressure as Raul Bobadilla tested Bernd Leno before Dominik Kohr reduced the arrears following a square pass from Koo with 60 minutes into the game.
Roger Schmidt's men remained unimpressed and restored their two-goal lead just five minutes later after Javier Hernandez wrapped up his brace and the game owing to Havertz' pass into path.
Leverkusen remained in control of the proceedings and protected their lead to the end to ensure the second straight win.
With the result, Bayer Leverkusen climb to the 8th place for the moment meanwhile Augsburg remain in the 13th position of the standings after suffering their second defeat in row.
The following fixtures are scheduled for Saturday: Hertha Berlin host front-runners Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund see Wolfsburg, Mainz face Werder Bremen, Hoffenheim encounter last-placed Darmstadt, third-placed Frankfurt meet Ingolstadt and Freiburg travel to Hamburg.
