Borussia Dortmund’s Marco Reus in action with VFB Stuttgart’s Ron-Robert Zieler. Photo: Reuters
BERLIN: Borussia Dortmund captain Marco Reus scored a stoppage-time winner to complete a 3-2 comeback victory at Hertha Berlin on Saturday and reclaim top spot in the Bundesliga, three points ahead of champions Bayern Munich.
Dortmund scored through Thomas Delaney in the 14th minute and Dan-Axel Zagadou two minutes after the restart to cancel out Salomon Kalou’s first-half double.
Yet despite laying siege to the Hertha box for much of the second half and with the hosts down to 10 men in the 85th minute following the dismissal of Jordan Torunarigha, they had to wait until deep into stoppage time for Reus to find space in the box and fire home his 15th goal of the campaign.
“Such a win in the 93rd minute will give us an enormous push,” Reus told reporters. “We kept believing in ourselves and fighting. It was a deserved win at the end.
“Now we have to keep showing this mentality in the coming weeks,” the German international added.
The win was crucial for coach Lucien Favre’s team, who are chasing one trophy this season after they were eliminated last week from the Champions League by Tottenham Hotspur following their German Cup exit last month.
Hertha captain Vedad Ibisevic lost his nerve late in the game and was sent off at the end of the game after throwing the ball at the head of Dortmund keeper Roman Buerki.
Dortmund’s Delaney had rattled the crossbar with a powerful shot in the 88th after Hertha also hit the woodwork.
The Ruhr valley club are on 60 points, three ahead of Bayern, who travel to Mainz 05 on Sunday.
RB Leipzig tightened their hold on third place with a 1-0 victory over embattled Schalke 04 with Germany international Timo Werner scoring a 14th-minute winner.
Schalke, who sacked coach Domenico Tedesco after their 7-0 demolition by Manchester City in the Champions League this week, have appointed former coach Huub Stevens as caretaker manager until the end of the season.
The Royal Blues put the ball in the net after two minutes, only for Mark Uth’s effort to be ruled offside and they had several fine long-range shots on goal late in the second half in a desperate attempt to find an equaliser.
The win lifted Leipzig to 49 points, two ahead of Borussia Moenchengladbach, who were held to a 1-1 draw by Freiburg on Friday.
Schalke, last season’s runners-up who crashed out of the Champions League Round of 16 after a 10-2 aggregate loss to City, are stuck on 23 points in 15th place, three above the relegation playoff spot.
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Written by Mausam
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