Borussia Dortmund are now nine points adrift of the leaders Bayern Munich, with a five-point lead over third-placed Leverkusen.
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The Bundesliga title hopes of Borussia Dortmund were shattered on Sunday when they were defeated 5-2 at home by Bayer Leverkusen, with injured star striker Erling Haaland forced to watch from the stands. Dortmund’s shambolic defending saw them suffer their sixth defeat of the season and fall further behind league leaders Bayern Munich in a game they needed to win to stay in the title race. They are now nine points adrift of the leaders, with a five-point lead over third-placed Leverkusen.
Much has been made of Haaland’s absence, but Dortmund’s back line self-immolated in the first half, and it was fellow convalescent Mats Hummels who was most sorely missed. In a comedy of errors, Hummels’ replacement, Dan-Axel Zagadou, handed Leverkusen the opener on a plate after just 10 minutes. After a short goal-kick, Zagadou was too hesitant on the ball and gave the ball away cheaply in his own box, allowing Patrik Schick to shoot unassisted from point-blank range. Manuel Akanji rushed back to help as goalkeeper Gregor Kobel dived full-length to parry the shot, only to end up bundling the ball into his own net.
Dortmund equalised a few minutes later thanks to another own goal, this time from Jeremie Frimpong, who flicked a Julian Brandt free-kick past his own goalkeeper. Leverkusen, on the other hand, had smelt blood and responded with a devastating counter-attack, with the entire front line linking up to provide Florian Wirtz with a tap-in. Robert Andrich of Leverkusen capped a dreadful first half-hour for Dortmund with a direct free-kick into the top corner from the edge of the area.
Dortmund, who were booed off at halftime by their own fans, rallied briefly in the second half before falling behind 4-1 on 53 minutes. After failing to clear a Leverkusen corner, the home side stood helpless as Jonathan Tah smashed a fantastic volley under the crossbar. On the hour mark, the return of US international Giovanni Reyna after a six-month injury layoff provided some brief relief, and both he and Jude Bellingham came close to scoring in the final quarter-hour. Diaby added a fifth on the counter-attack with a few minutes to go, before Steffen Tigges tapped in a consolation tap-in for Leverkusen.
