Bayern Munich continued its recent dominance over old rival Borussia Dortmund on Saturday, coming from behind to win 3-2 away in the Bundesliga with Robert Lewandowski scoring his 11th goal of the season.
David Alaba was also on target for the Bavarians after a turbulent week in which the club publicly withdrew its offer to renew his contract, leaving the long-serving Austrian “hurt and disappointed.”
Bayern, which stayed top of the Bundesliga with 18 points from seven games, has won all four of its meetings with Dortmund since Hansi Flick took over as coach, including the league double last season. Dortmund is third with 15 points, one behind RB Leipzig.
Bayern thought it had gone ahead in the 25th minute when Lewandowski swept Serge Gnabry's low cross into the net but, after a long VAR check, the goal was disallowed because the Pole's right knee was offside.
Having survived that, Dortmund took the lead. Jadon Sancho sent Raphael Guerreiro into the box and he cut the Portuguese back for Reus to sidefoot into the net in the 45th minute.
Dortmund, which had conceded only two league goals all season before Saturday, then let in two in five minutes either side of the break.
Gnabry played a free kick short to Thomas Mueller who teed it up for Alaba to equaliser with a deflected shot in first-half stoppage time.
Within three minutes of the restart, Lucas Hernandez whipped in a cross from the left and Lewandowski got in front of Mats Hummels to scored with a powerful header.
Dortmund, which missed several chances throughout the game with topscorer Erling Haaland among the culprits, and fell further behind in the 80th minute.
Bayern broke up a Dortmund attack and the ball was quickly played up to substitute Leroy Sane who cut inside and scored with a low shot into the far corner.
Dortmund was not finished as Haaland ran onto Guerreiro's dinked pass to round Manuel Neuer and pull one back with seven minutes left.
Reus volleyed over from Guerreiro's cross before Lewandowski had another goal chalked off in stoppage time.
Dortmund coach Lucien Favre rued missed chances as he felt that the match was a good watch for neutral fans.
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“We had a lot of good chances but didn't take them. A draw would have been a fair result but it was ok. Let's stay positive,” Favre said.
“We had so many chances to score, it was incredible. But we conceded three goals and lost. It's hard to accept. All in all, it was a good game. Good for the spectators ... well, for those at home on TV at least.”
Dortmund defender Mats Hummels agreed with his coach.
“We had many, many, many chances today but we weren't clinical enough in front of goal,” he said. “All three (Bayern) goals were deflected. That was bad luck, but that's football.”
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