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Captain and scorer: Marco Reus
Photo: Martin Meissner / AP
At the start of the 5th match day of the Bundesliga, Borussia Dortmund won 1-0 (1-0) against TSG Hoffenheim.
The strong Marco Reus (16th) scored the goal on Friday evening.
After that, the vastly superior Dortmund missed numerous chances in front of 79,300 spectators and had to tremble to the end.
Hoffenheim played so harmlessly that the victory was not seriously threatened.
With the win, Dortmund takes over the lead in the table, at least temporarily.
Despite the win, it wasn't an all-round successful evening from Dortmund's point of view.
Ahead of the game, it was revealed that Mo Dahoud would be out for months.
The midfielder needs surgery on his shoulder, which has popped out twice.
"Unfortunately, he won't be playing again until November," said sports director Sebastian Kehl on Friday evening at DAZN.
Dahoud's failure was not the only bad news.
Attacking talent Jamie Bynoe-Gittens injured his shoulder in a sprint duel shortly before half-time and had to leave.
VAR causes discussions
In the game, however, everything went exactly as Dortmund had imagined.
After some preliminary work by Julian Brandt, Reus gave BVB an early lead (16').
After that, Dortmund could have increased.
First Anthony Modeste headed just wide (19'), then Bynoe-Gittens missed (22').
In the 32nd minute, according to the Dortmund spectators, there should have been a penalty.
After a cross from Marius Wolf, Hoffenheim defender Ozan Kabak touched the ball with his arm.
The scene was checked by VAR, but referee Daniel Siebert decided: no penalty.
Lucky for Hoffenheim, Kabak's arm went to the ball.
In the second half too little came from Hoffenheim, who were disappointing for long stretches of the game.
TSG became dangerous in the 52nd minute, but Georginio Rutter's shot went wide.
But because BVB didn't use numerous good chances - including Thorgan Hazard and Modeste failed in a row at Hoffenheim keeper Oliver Baumann (69th) - the game remained exciting until the end.
kjo/dpa