Dortmund and Leipzig see victory in their Bundesliga top four duel
BORUSSIA Dortmund returned to winning ways 2-0 at Union Berlin on Saturday to keep fourth place in the Bundesliga in a duel with RB Leipzig who triumphed 4-1 in Bochum.
Dortmund rebounded from a painful 3-2 home defeat against Hoffenheim from Karim Adeyemi in the 41st and Ian Maatsen in the 90th.
That made them stay fourth, one point ahead of Leipzig who had to play catchup in Bochum after falling behind from Maximilian Wittek’s free-kick.
Dani Olmo levelled, and Lois Openda, an own goal by Ivan Ordets and Yussuf Poulsen then secured victory within a span of minutes minutes between the 68th and 72nd, and Bochum’s misery was complete when when Moritz-Broni Kwarteng was dismissed in the closing stages, 14 minutes after coming on.
Dortmund are three points behind VfB Stuttgart who are at Wolfsburg in the late game.
Dortmund had trouble getting into the game at Union who have risen into midfield after a disastrous start into the season, and it took 35 minutes until they got a first chance from Nico Schlotterbeck.
The lead came six minutes later from Adeyemi whose shot into the top left corner went in off the bar.
Union fought back but Kevin Volland and Yorbe Vertessen were denied by goalkeeper Alexander Meyer before Maatsen wrapped up matters late on the counter.
“We took up the fight and had control after some initial struggles.
Everyone was fighting,” Meyer, who stood in again for injured Gregor Kobel, told Sky TV.
Having beaten champions Bayern Munich in their last home game, Bochum also drew first blood against Leipzig from Wittek’s seventh minute freekick, with goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi not looking good.