Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen struck twice in the first half to beat St Pauli 2-1 on Saturday and make it three league wins in a row for the first time this season.

Buoyed by their midweek German Cup round of 16 victory over league leaders Bayern Munich, Leverkusen only needed six minutes to take control of the game with Florian Wirtz firing in from a superb Granit Xhaka pass.

Leverkusen, who host Inter Milan in the Champions League on Tuesday, were without their two top strikers, Victor Boniface and Patrik Schick, both of whom are nursing injuries.

But they still doubled their lead in the 21st after defender Jonathan Tah was left unmarked at the far post to head in.

St Pauli needed 30 minutes to get their first effort toward goal and they struggled throughout against the hosts' solid backline.

But they set up a nervous finale when they pulled a goal back in the 84th through Morgan Guilavogui.

Levekusen hung on for the win and are now on 26 points in third place, seven behind Bayern, who beat Heidenheim 4-2.