Rodriguez magic helps Wolfsburg crush Leverkusen

Leverkusen, who also lost their Champions League group opener at Monaco in midweek, suffered a nightmare start with Giulio Donati sent off for bringing down Junior Malanda in the box after eight minutes.

The 22-year-old pony-tailed Rodriguez sent Bernd Leno the wrong way from the spot and Kevin De Bruyne came close to doubling their lead when he hit the post in the 22th minute with Leverkusen's defence in complete disarray.

Forward Josip Drmic did well to control the ball following a deep cross from Leno and slot in against the run of play as Leverkusen temporarily equalised.

Wolfsburg's superiority and pressure against an error-prone opponent, however, quickly paid off with Rodriguez chipping a cross to the far post for Portuguese Vieirinha to head in on the stroke of halftime.

Switzerland international Rodriguez kept his best piece of skill until last and in the 63rd minute drilled in a dazzling left-footed volley from a De Bruyne corner that left Leno frozen to the spot.

Substitute Aaron Hunt completed the rout with a low drive nine minutes from time as 11th-placed Wolfsburg bounced back from their 4-1 demolition by Everton in the Europa League during the week.

"We knew it would be hard and the red card and 0-1 really made it very complicated for us," said Leverkusen coach Roger Schmidt, whose side are fifth.

"Our young team had to deal with the situation and you could see that even with a man down we had our chance. But after going down 3-1 we could do nothing any more."

In the other game on Sunday Borussia Moenchengladbach had possession but failed to break down a compact Cologne, who became the only team to have yet to concede a goal in four league games this season after their 0-0 draw in the Rhine derby.

Promoted Paderborn are surprisingly top of the table on eight points following their 2-0 win over Hanover 96 on Saturday.

Champions Bayern Munich, who were held to a goalless draw at Hamburg SV on Saturday, also have eight.

Borussia Dortmund are on six after slumping to a 2-0 loss at Mainz 05.