Dortmund's title hopes fade further with heavy home defeat
Borussia Dortmund was thrashed 5-2 at home by Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga on Sunday, as its hopes of catching leader Bayern Munich slipped yet further away.
Published : Feb 06, 2022 22:30 IST
The injured Erling Haaland watched as his Borussia Dortmund teammates were outclassed and outgunned in a humiliating 5-2 loss at home to Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga on Sunday.
Haaland, who hasn’t played since January 22 due to what the club says are muscular problems, was among 10,000 spectators permitted under new nationwide coronavirus restrictions. Germany coach Hansi Flick was another.
Haaland, Dortmund’s top goal-scorer with 16 goals in 14 Bundesliga appearances this season, has been the subject of intense transfer speculation. His team’s latest performance will have done little to encourage him to stay as the defeat allowed Bayern Munich to pull nine points clear of Dortmund at the top of the table.
Gio Reyna made his comeback after a five-month injury layoff for Dortmund, but the American came on when the team was already four goals down and was foiled by a good save from Leverkusen’s Lennart Grill in the 80th minute.
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Grill was only playing due to Leverkusen captain Lukas Hradecky’s COVID-19 infection and Andrey Lunyov’s injury. The No. 3 goalkeeper also denied Jude Bellingham late on as Leverkusen allowed Dortmund dominate possession to see out the result.
The visitor went ahead through an own-goal from Manuel Akanji in the 10th, which was followed by another own-goal at the other end from Jeremie Frimpong six minutes later.
Florian Wirtz made it 2-1 on a brilliant counterattack in the 20th, Robert Andrich scored with a perfectly placed free kick inside the top left corner in the 28th, and Jonathan Tah grabbed the fourth in spectacular fashion in the 53rd.
Moussa Diaby wrapped up the rout in the 87th, before Dortmund substitute Steffen Tigges capitalized on a rare lapse by Leverkusen to score in injury time.
It didn’t prevent boos and whistles from the home team’s fans.
Relegation-threatened Wolfsburg hosted last-place Greuther Furth later Sunday.