Second-placed Borussia Dortmund got an important 3-2 win on their visit to Hoffenheim (now 6th) and provisionally moved within three points of leader Bayern Munich, this Saturday in matchday 20 of the Bundesliga.
Bayern visits Hertha Berlin on Sunday (13th), against whom they will have the opportunity to return to the six-point advantage with which they started this day.
Last weekend, Borussia Dortmund already played before Bayern and won (5-1 against Freiburg), but the Munich team did not get nervous and responded a day later with a 4-0 thrashing in Cologne. Will Julian Nagelsmann’s team show that mental solidity again?
This Saturday, the Norwegian Erling Haaland (minute 6) opened the scoring for Borussia Dortmund at the Sinsheim stadium, but just before half-time (45+1) the Croatian Andrej Kramaric equalized for the locals.
In the second half, Borussia Dortmund sentenced with a goal from Marco Reus (58) and a goal against David Raum (66).
Dutchman Donyell Malen was the protagonist in the shadows, assisting all three goals.
Hoffenheim was excited until the final moments when they came within a goal thanks to Frenchman Georginio Rutter (77), but without being able to complete the comeback.
"It’s a great result for us, Hoffenheim is a very strong team.", stressed the coach of Dortmund, Marco Rose.
Haaland adds his sixteenth goal in this edition of the German league, still behind the Czech Patrik Schick (Bayer Leverkusen), who has 18, and above all, far surpassed by the Polish Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich), outstanding leader with 23.
Borussia Dortmund chained a third consecutive league victory and, above all, were able to recover their smile after the great disappointment suffered on Tuesday, when they were eliminated by St Pauli (2nd division) in the round of 16 of the German Cup.
For Hoffenheim, the week has been catastrophic: before this Saturday’s defeat they had lost 2-1 at Union Berlin the previous day and on Wednesday they lost 4-1 at home to Freiburg and were also eliminated in the round of 16 in their country’s Cup.
Hoffenheim had started the day in fourth place, within the Champions League zone, and now comes out of it by dropping to sixth place.
Union Berlin, to the ‘Champions zone’
The new fourth-place team is Union Berlin, who now lead Hoffenheim by three points thanks to their 2-1 victory at Borussia Mönchengladbach (12th), with a brace from Max Kruse.
In fifth position is Freiburg, who defeated Stuttgart 2-0 (17th, penultimate), one point behind Union Berlin in fourth place.
Bayer Leverkusen (3rd) consolidates on the podium, crushing Augsburg 5-1 (16th). He maintains a margin point on the room.
Bayer Leverkusen’s triumph at the BayArena was opened by a goal from Karim Bellarabi (9) and closed by another from Argentine Lucas Alario. In between, the star of the evening, Frenchman Moussa Diaby, signed a hat-trick (24, 65, 69).
Cologne (7th), also a candidate for European places, drew 2-2 on their visit to Bochum (11th).
At the bottom of the classification, the bottom Greuther Fürth signed his second league victory of the course and is reluctant to resign himself to the second division.
They won 2-1 against Mainz (10th) but are still nine points behind in sixteenth place (Augsburg), the position that would allow them to at least play a playoff for permanence. The safety zone (Wolfsburg, 15th) is at 11 points.
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