Borussia Dortmund were able to consolidate second place in the standings on Bundesliga matchday 15 thanks to a 2-1 victory at VfL Wolfsburg. Thomas Tuchel’s side recorded a 2-1 victory away to last season's DFB Cup winners, extending their advantage over third placed Gladbach to nine points, while reducing the deficit to table-toppers FC Bayern to five points.
Marco Reus opened the scoring in the first half, and drama ensued late in the game with Ricardo Rodriguez scoring the equaliser from the spot in second-half stoppage time – only to have Shinji Kagawa restore the visitors' lead with the last kick of the game.
Wolfsburg's impressive home-run comes to an end
For coach Dieter Hecking's team, this was the first home defeat in 29 league games, coming just ahead of their crucial Champions League fixture with Manchester United on Tuesday (20:45 CET). It was also Hecking's 100th Bundesliga game as Wolfsburg manager.
BVB coach Tuchel was forced to make some changes after World Cup winner Mats Hummels, Sokratis and Julian Weigl were all sidelined with a stomach bug. Neven Subotic and Sven Bender started in central defence, while Germany international Matthias Ginter moved into defensive midfield.
Dortmund start strong
The opening 15 minutes were dominated by the visitors, with both Ilkay Gündogan and Bender hitting the woodwork within the first five minutes. Wolfsburg were fortunate not to concede an early goal.
Time and time again BVB won possession high up the pitch, preventing Wolfsburg from finding their rhythm. Shortly after the half-hour mark, Dortmund took the lead following a mistake by Josuah Guilavogui which allowed Reus to round VfL keeper Diego Benaglio and slot home into an empty net.
Wolfsburg respond after the break
Dortmund started to lose control of the match towards the end of the first half, as Wolfsburg began to create several opportunities. Henrikh Mkhitaryan prevented an equaliser by clearing Naldo's header off the line just before the half-time whistle.
Hecking brought on Bas Dost for Guilavogui at half-time and Wolfsburg were looking more and more comfortable. Dortmund on the other hand produced too many mistakes while trying to build their attacks. Dost missed a huge chance to level the score on the hour-mark. However, the biggest drama was saved until late in the game, when Piszczek brought down Andre Schürrle inside the area and Rodriguez tucked away the equaliser from the spot. But BVB weren’t done yet – two minutes later, Dortmund were back on track, with Kagawa finishing off a fine move from Piszczek and Mkhitaryan.
