close
Friday March 29, 2024

Dortmund beat Bundesliga top ranked Gladbach, Bayern Slip up against Augsburg

Gladbach remained top, ahead of Wolfsburg, who drew 1-1 at Leipzig, on goal difference, both have 16 points from eight games.

By AFP
October 20, 2019
Bayern, Dortmund and Leipzig are all one point behind. Photo: AFP

Borussia Dortmund beat top of the table Borussia Moenchengladbach to jump to fourth in the Bundesliga on Saturday, level with Bayern Munich who earlier dropped points at Augsburg.

The top of the Bundesliga grew even more congested with the top nine separated by just two points. Of the eight who have played so far this weekend, only Eintracht Frankfurt and Dortmund have won.

Gladbach remained top, ahead of Wolfsburg, who drew 1-1 at Leipzig, on goal difference. Both have 16 points from eight games.

Bayern, Dortmund and RB Leipzig are all one point behind. Then come four teams on 14 points, including Freiburg, who could have gone top but lost, 2-0, at Union Berlin, and Beyer Leverkusen, who could also have taken over first, but lost at Frankfurt on Friday. Schalke have a chance to seize top spot when they visit Hoffenheim on Sunday.

In Dortmund, Thorgan Hazard´s first-half strike for the home team against his former club was ruled out by VAR for a tight offside call.

Hazard found a sprinting Marco Reus with a perfect through-ball in the 58th minute. Reus slotted home for the only goal of the game.

Read more:  DC united fall in Rooney's farewell match, Atlanta advances in MLS playoffs

Even though another Dortmund strike was erased by VAR in the 85th minute, the home team finished the game hanging on, adopting a back-five and even a back-six in added time to end a run of three successive draws.

Dortmund started without 19-year-old attacker Jadon Sancho who was dropped for "disciplinary reasons".

"Jadon is a great kid, but he is still very young," Michael Zorc, the Dortmund director of football, told German television before kick off. "The decision was not easy, but there was no other choice. The suspension is only active for today."

German media reported Sancho had returned late from England duty.

Bayern slip up again 

Reigning champions Bayern, meanwhile, slipped up for the second league match in succession, having lost 2-1 at home to Hoffenheim before the international break.

Bayern boss Niko Kovac saw his side drop more points in the Bundesliga. Photo: AFP

Augsburg grabbed a rapid lead — just as they had in the corresponding fixture last year, Marco Richter finding the net with a sweetly-struck volley just 30 seconds after kick-off, the fastest goal of the season so far.

Bayern replied as Robert Lewandowski stretched his scoring streak to eight games in the 14th minute from a Serge Gnabry cross.

After a host of missed chances, former Arsenal winger Gnabry threaded the needle in the 49th minute to put Bayern 2-1 ahead.

But a bullying run in injury time by Sergio Cordova set up Alfred Finnbogason, who finished past Manuel Neuer to earn a point for Augsburg, and put another early dent in Bayern´s title defence.

Thomas Mueller missed two chances after coming on as a late substitute after a week of controversy over the fact he has not started a game since September.

Timo Werner scored his first goal in five games for Leipzig in a tight tussle against Wolfsburg at the Red Bull Arena.

It was not enough. Wolfsburg scored a late equaliser when Dutch striker Wout Weghorst finished a William cross to keep the race at the top close.

Wolfsburg are the only unbeaten team in the division.

At the Weserstadion, Werder Bremen opened the scoring at home against Hertha Berlin as Josh Sargent´s strike took a deflection on its way into the net in the seventh minute.

Dodi Lukebakio hit back in the 70th minute for Hertha to secure a 1-1 draw. He beat three defenders, including Theodor Gebre Selassie twice, in a mazy run from the wing.

Union Berlin claimed just the second win of their debut top-flight season by beating Freiburg 2-0 at a bouncing Stadion an der Alten Foersterei.