Soccer Bundesliga: Borussia Dortmund wins late and moves closer to Bayern Munich

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A fierce Bundesliga game: Dortmund versus Stuttgart

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Bernd Thissen / dpa

On the twelfth matchday of the Bundesliga, Borussia Dortmund moved up to one point on leaders Bayern Munich with a 2-1 (0-0) win against VfB Stuttgart. Strong Hoffenheim won 2-0 (1-0) against RB Leipzig and VfL Wolfsburg scored one point after falling behind at 2-2 (0-1) in Bielefeld. The two promoted players lost: Bayer Leverkusen secured a 1-0 (1-0) win against VfL Bochum, Greuther Fürth went down 0-4 (0-3) in Mönchengladbach.

Bayern surprisingly lost in Augsburg on Friday. The first pursuer Borussia Dortmund took the chance. Against Stuttgart, who were still plagued by injuries, striker Silas recently returned to training but not yet in the squad, the Dortmund team struggled again after two competitive defeats in a row. Although BVB started in the first round, they almost conceded a goal: The former Stuttgart Gregor Kobel parried strongly against his former teammate Tanguy Coulibaly and thwarted the deficit (38th).

In the second half, someone from Dortmund took the lead who had recently come under increasing criticism: Without the injured Erling Haaland, there was more pressure on summer signing Donyell Malen, who was rarely able to convince, but was lucky against Stuttgart that his shot was from the edge of the penalty area deflected into the goal flew (56.). Dortmund's defense revealed gaps: Stuttgart was repeatedly dangerous by counterattacks, Roberto Massimo used one of them to equalize (63.). Stuttgart's goalkeeper Florian Müller then made an outstanding save against Manuel Akanji (67th), but had no chance when Marco Reus struck in the 86th minute.

After the weak start to the season, RB Leipzig seemed to have caught up before the international break. There was a severe setback against Hoffenheim, but this was also due to the strong performance of Hoffenheim: From the start, Leipzig struggled and threatened to give up the game completely early on. First Diadié Samassékou headed after a corner and a mistake by Péter Gulácsi to take the lead (12th), then just a little later Kevin Akpoguma (13th), Georgino Rutter (14th) and Ihlas Bebou (22nd) failed with attempts. Hoffenheim dominated the Leipziger in the first round at will.

The game was not significantly more even in the second round, instead Hoffenheim rewarded themselves: After a mistake in the Leipzig build-up game, Munas Dabbur grabbed the ball and decided the game with a shot from around 18 meters (68th).

VfL went into the international break with three competitive game wins under the new head coach Florian Kohfeldt.

Well, in the table penultimate, Wolfsburg seemed to belong to the favorite role - but then Bielefeld cheered.

With a remarkable shot from the turn, Masaya Okugawa put Arminia in the lead (11th).

After the break, it was 2-0 with a penalty (54th).

Fabian Klos converted the penalty that Kevin Mbabu had caused with a foul.

But that wasn't the preliminary decision. For a long time there was nothing to be seen from VfL, then Wout Weghorst scored first for Wolfsburg (62nd) and just a few seconds later Lukas Nmecha even managed to equalize (63rd). Wolfsburg increased the pressure further, but did not win any more.

Bayer Leverkusen had not won a Bundesliga game since October 3 or five games, so they lost touch with the top of the table. Against Bochum, who was strong before the international break, it was the Leverkusen pace on the wings that decided: Moussa Diaby sent Jeremie Frimpong into the box on the right in the fourth minute; the ball was actually played a little long, but Frimpong scratched it from the goal line and crossed the second post. Amine Adli beheaded. As a result, an even game developed, and the Bochum team repeatedly came to terms. But it stayed with a narrow Bayer victory.

After the eleventh defeat in the twelfth game of the season, Fürth remains bottom of the table.

In Gladbach, the newcomer fell behind early on when Lars Stindl prepared the opening goal for Jonas Hofmann with a through pass (8th).

The guests weren't supposed to recover from that, and it got worse.

At 0: 2, Fürth goalkeeper Marius Funk had unlucky enough to pass the ball into Florian Neuhaus' foot, the Gladbach player took advantage of the mistake and shot straight into the empty goal from 25 meters away.

At the latest with the 3-0 win by Alassane Pléa before the break, a class difference became clear (43rd).

At 4-0, the outstanding Stindl delivered his third assist on the day, Hofmann completed the attack (57th).

Gladbach is currently seventh in the table.

hba / jan