Dortmund wins ‘Borussias’ duel in Bundesliga thrilling race

Marco Reus got the only goal of the game as Borussia Dortmund beat league leaders Borussia Mönchengladbach 1-0. - © DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga GmbH
Marco Reus got the only goal of the game as Borussia Dortmund beat league leaders Borussia Mönchengladbach 1-0. - © DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga GmbH

After last week Borussia Monchengladbach grabbed the lead of Bundesliga, this week more changes pursued. Gladbach kept their place but they are now tied in points with Wolfsburg, with Bayern, Dortmund, and Leipzig just 1 point away.

Meanwhile, Freiburg lost for the second time and Eintracht Frankfurt decided they also want to join the chasing group.

All this and much more in what promises to be an exciting Bundesliga season.

Borussia Dortmund 1 x 0 Borussia Monchengladbach

The duel of ‘Borussias’ promised to be the most exciting match of this weekend. On one side were the visitors, Gladbach, who had enjoyed a fairly good season start and were top of the league after 7 matches.

On the other, there was Borussia Dortmund, a team that had as much attacking prowess as defensive weaknesses. Three consecutive 2-2 draws left the ‘Yellow Wall’ thirsty for a win and this was the perfect chance.

In the Signal Iduna Park, however, Dortmund was able to shut down the attacking trio of Thuram, Embolo, and Plea. In the second half, they got themselves in front, when Marco Reus received a pass from Thorgan Hazard and broke the deadlock.

Reus scored again against the club that revealed him. Marco played for Gladbach until 2012, before leaving for Dortmund and now he has proven to be some sort of amulet, with 9 goals and 6 assists.

Still, Gladbach keeps their lead, due to the competitor’s misfortunes. They have 16 points, the same as Wolfsburg. Dortmund climbs to the chasing group, being 1 point away from the leaders.

They will play against Inter this Wednesday for Champions League group stages.

Augsburg 2 x 2 Bayern Munich

Bayern had a chance to recover their position as leaders if they won to Augsburg. The home side is in the relegation places, so it seemed like an easy job to do.

However, with just 1 minute on the clock, they trailed behind with Marco Richter scoring for Augsburg.

Lewandowski came to the rescue and Bundesliga top scorer put his name on the scoresheet, for the 12th time in 8 games.

After the interval, Serge Gnabry seemed to have settled the Bavarians for an important win. The current Champions League group stage goal machine scored his second in the Bundesliga.

Bayern was laidback in the game and Augsburg enjoyed plenty of space to create trouble to Manuel Neuer. That and a couple of clumsy wasted chances resulted in Augsburg having the time and confidence to surprise the away fans with a late strike.

Finnbogason, the Iceland striker from Augsburg, with a close-range finish after a pass from Cordova, decided the game. Two points went flying away and Bayern is now tied with Dortmund and the chasing pack.

The bad news for Bayern was not only the result. They also lost Niklas Sule with an ACL injury, that will keep the defender away from the sidelines until next year.

Leipzig 1 x 1 Wolfsburg

Another match between two sides that are in the chasing pack of Bundesliga, opposed Leipzig to Wolfsburg. On one side there was Leipzig, who was top of the league, until their accident against Schalke. In the other, there was Wolfsburg, the only team in the league that has yet to be beaten.

A win would catapult any of the two teams to the leading spot, but they were unable to capitalize. Leipzig opened the scoreline in the 57 minute by Timo Werner and it looked like Wolfsburg invincibility was on the line.

However, Wolfsburg leading goalscorer Weghorst scored an equalizer with 8 minutes left on the clock to put the match level.

In 8 matches, Wolfsburg has only conceded 5 goals and that is the proof why it is so hard to beat them. The valuable point puts them tied with Gladbach for the lead. 10 years later, will Wolfsburg get their 2nd Bundesliga title?

Hoffenheim 2 x 0 Schalke 04

Hoffenheim and Schalke were the last teams to play this weekend and the visitors had the possibility of going isolated in 1st place if they won. Spoiler: they did not.

The home side was able to frustrate Schalke’s attacking attempts and in the 71 minutes Hoffenheim opened the score. Kramaric was the author in his first Bundesliga appearance of the season.

Schalke pushed through and tried to come back. However, they were hit in the counter-attack and Bebou hit the final nail in the coffin.

They went from being possible leaders to being in the 7th place. Hoffenheim, however, seems to have set their engine running with 2 back to back wins: one over Bayern, one over Schalke.

Eintracht Frankfurt 3 x 0 Bayer Leverkusen

Leverkusen had an opportunity to forget about the tragedies of the past, like when they were thumped by Dortmund and get into the leading places. All they had to do was beat Frankfurt away, but the job became a nightmare.

At minute 4 Goncalo Paciencia scored for Frankfurt and he doubled it at the minute 16. A penalty converted after Dragovic’s foul.

Bas Dost would finish Leverkusen’s hopes of getting any points out of this game. The tables have turned, and now Leverkusen sits 9th tied in points with Frankfurt, who is 8th on goal difference.

Bayer will barely have time to rest from this beating as they will head to Madrid to face Atletico this Tuesday.

Union Berlin 2 x 0 Freiburg

Union Berlin is setting up to be some kind of ‘giant’ killer in this season of Bundesliga. The newly-promoted side had only won once prior to this game, against Borussia Dortmund.

This time they hosted Freiburg, who is having a sensational season start. A victory would take them to the lead of Bundesliga, but the Berliners were not as easy to defeat as expected.

In the first minute, Marius Bulter served yet again another cold ice goal. After scoring twice against Dortmund, he was the one freezing Freiburg’s hopes.

There was plenty of time in the clock to come back, but Freiburg was bedazzled by a strong defending from Union Berlin. The Bundesliga debutants would even get their second, through Ingvartsen in the late minutes.

With this result Union Berlin escape the relegation places and hold hope of keeping their place in Bundesliga. Freiburg drops to 6th, but is still only 2 points away from the lead.

Werder Bremen 1 x 1 Hertha Berlin

The other team from Berlin, traveled to Bremen to face a team that came from 3 consecutive draws. Hertha had a slow start of the Bundesliga, but in the last 3 matches, they grabbed all 9 points.

They found themselves trailing in this game quickly though, as Josh Sargent enjoyed a deflected shot to open the score. The North American forward scored his second goal of the season.

Hertha would have to wait until the late minutes of the second half to equalize. The goal came from Congolese international Lukebakio with a powerful strike.

With the 1×1 result, Hertha is now 10th and Werder Bremen is 12th.

Fortuna Dusseldorf 1 x 0 Mainz 05

In a match that opposed two strugglers, Mainz 05 was unlucky to be defeated. Dusseldorf got their second win of the season in a tight 1×0 win.

The game turned sour before the break, as Edmilson Fernandes saw his second yellow and Mainz were reduced to 10 men.

With one more player on the pitch, Dusseldorf grew and finally scored through Rouwen Hennings.

Dusseldorf runs away from the relegation places, as Mainz continues in the 17th.

FC Koln 3 x 0 Paderborn

The other two teams struggling in the bottom are Paderborn and Koln. Both faced each other this weekend and Paderborn was again unable to get any points.

Koln got their first win of the season and they did it by scoring 3 goals. Terodde opened the score after 8 minutes. Schaub and Bornauw completed it in the second half.

With just 1 point, Paderborn is the bottom of the Bundesliga table. Koln is now 16th, 1 point away from the relegation zone.

Bundesliga returns in the weekend, after Champions and Europa League group stage matches.

About Jorge Costa 140 Articles
Jorge Costa is a freelance journalist, with a Masters Degree in Journalism and Communication, through the University of Coimbra, Portugal. He specializes in sports and soccer in particular.

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