Bundesliga: Malen to the rescue again in Dortmund’s 1-1 at Bochum

Dortmund, which needed an 88th minute goal by Dutch striker Malen to beat Cologne 1-0 in its league opener last week, was sluggish and toothless in attack for long stretches of the match.

Borussia Dortmund’s Donyell Malen applauds fans after the match. | Photo Credit: REUTERS/Thilo Schmuelgen

Borussia Dortmund stumbled to a 1-1 draw at VfL Bochum in their mini Ruhr valley derby on Saturday, with forward Donyell Malen’s second-half equaliser rescuing a point for last season’s Bundesliga runner-up.

Dortmund, which needed an 88th minute goal by Dutch striker Malen to beat Cologne 1-0 in its league opener last week, was sluggish and toothless in attack for long stretches of the match.

It did have a couple of early chances, but it was the host, which struck first with Kevin Stoeger’s unstoppable drive in the 13th minute, taking keeper Gregor Kobel by surprise.

Dortmund has now played a Bundesliga record 129 consecutive games without registering a goalless draw.

Bochum grew bolder and kept taking stabs at the Dortmund goal, and Philipp Hofmann almost added a second with his glancing header in the 32nd minute bouncing off the crossbar.

Edin Terzic’s team were running out of ideas for how to break through the hard-working Bochum defence when Malen took matters into his own hands once more and threaded a shot past two defenders and into the bottom corner for the equaliser.

It briefly upped the tempo as it went in search of a winner and hit the post with Felix Nmecha’s effort just past the hour.

Bochum responded with Patrick Osterhage’s shot onto the post in the 87th, but in the end, neither side was able to score a match-winner.