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Burke treble stuns flat Frankfurt, Leverkusen held by Gladbach / Photo: © AFP
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Burke treble stuns flat Frankfurt, Leverkusen held by Gladbach
Oliver Burke bagged a hat-trick as Union Berlin brought Eintracht Frankfurt crashing back down to earth following their thumping of Galatasaray in midweek, with a shock 4-3 win away, while Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 1-1 draw by Borussia Moenchengladbach.
Union raced into a 4-1 lead after an hour thanks to Burke's heroics after an early Ilyas Ansah stunner.
Frankfurt kickstarted their comeback effort as Can Uzun scored with 10 minutes left while Jonathan Burkardt added a penalty seven minutes later to fray Union's nerves.
Union coach Steffen Baumgart was sent off for showing his middle finger in protest at the penalty, but the visitors held on.
Ansah unleashed a long-range rocket to put Union in front on nine minutes before Scotland international Burke scored on the break to double the visitors' lead.
Three days after coming from a goal down to thump Galatasaray 5-1 in the Champions League, Frankfurt lacked energy and were fortunate to pull a goal back when Nathaniel Brown's shot was deflected in just before half-time.
The lightning-quick Burke put Union back in control with two goals in four second-half minutes, first from a header and then after finishing off a counter attack as Andrej Ilic turned provider for both.
Frankfurt woke up late on with midfielder Uzun volleying in before Union's Leopold Querfeld gave away a penalty for grabbing hold of Burkardt, which the Germany striker converted.
"I'm sorry -- actually I'm not," Baumgart said after the match about his dismissal. "I'm not going to hold back my emotions, but we have to live with it."
- First Gladbach goal -
Leverkusen gave up points for a third time in four matches this season as Haris Tabakovic scored in injury time to snatch a share of the spoils for Gladbach.
There were few chances in a match between the two Bundesliga sides to have already sacked a coach this season.
The hosts fired Erik ten Hag after just two league games and Gladbach let former Leverkusen coach Gerardo Seoane go on Monday after managing a solitary point from their first three matches.
Holding a one-goal lead after Malik Tillman's 70th-minute volley, Leverkusen looked on track for their second win of the season until Tabakovic rose high to head in a set piece in the third minute of stoppage time.
The goal was Gladbach's first of the season in their fourth game. Leverkusen have now dropped seven points from winning positions so far this campaign.
Later on Sunday, Borussia Dortmund host Wolfsburg.
J.Martinez--SFF
