Augsburg won 3-0 at Schalke in the Bundesliga on Sunday as coach Heiko Herrlich made a victorious debut in the dugout after a trip to buy toothpaste ruled him out of last weekend's game.
A superb free-kick by Eduard Loewen and goals from Noah Sarenren Bazee and Sergio Cordova ended a run of six games without a win for 12th-placed Augsburg as struggling hosts Schalke, in eighth, failed to win for a ninth league match.
"I practise free-kicks a lot in training. "It didn't go very well in the last week of training but luckily in the game it worked," Loewen said.
Schalke's Europa League hopes took a knock with just seven games left after another dreadful display in front of empty stands in Gelsenkirchen, as both sides played their second game since a two-month coronavirus suspension.
Herrlich, appointed in March, took charge of an Augsburg match for the first time having sat out the 2-1 home defeat by Wolfsburg after breaking coronavirus quarantine by going out to purchase items including toothpaste.
RB Leipzig power back into third with a 5-0 triumph at Mainz, with Timo Werner netting a hat-trick.
Leipzig had drawn their last three league games to drop out of the title running but now sit seven points behind leaders Bayern Munich with seven games left this term.
Werner scored the first and final two strikes, giving him a career-high 24 league goals this term, with Yussuf Poulsen and Marcel Sabitzer netting in between.
Australian Associated Press