Leipzig. Borussia Dortmund’s dream duo Erling Haaland and Jadon Sancho prevented RB Leipzig from jumping to the top of the Bundesliga table. In the long tactical top game on Saturday evening, BVB defeated the attacking defeat against harmless Saxons with 3-1. Sancho (55.) and Haaland (71./84.) Met for the important triumph for the guests from the Ruhr area, Alexander Sörloth (89.) for RB.
With 31 points, RB, who lost for the first time in eight games, are two points behind FC Bayern. Munich had already lost 3-2 on Friday evening against Borussia Mönchengladbach after a 2-0 lead.
At the start of the game, the people of Leipzig were even more present, played the ball well through their own ranks and hardly allowed Dortmund to develop through the typical RB pressing. He is already planning the win, RB coach Julian Nagelsmann said during the week. Accordingly, his team appeared determined in the first half hour.
However, the decisive pass was missing in the last third to really compelling scoring chances. Leipzig therefore had the first halfway dangerous opportunity from a distance. Attacking man Dani Olmo (41st) shot a chipball blocked by the Dortmund defense from the edge of the penalty area around one meter over the BVB goal.
Leipzig’s Olmo also hits the post
After the break, BVB turned up and pushed Leipzig in phases into their own half. Reus from an acute angle and Emre Can with a header (both 49th) could have put Dortmund in the lead. After an assault by Haaland, Reus put his hoe on the freestanding Sancho, who hit from close range. Ten minutes after the goal, Haaland only hit the crossbar after RB goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi had deflected the ball decisively.
Only two minutes later, Olmo missed the chance to equalize when he failed from five meters from the post. Shortly thereafter, Haaland nodded a Sancho flank to his eleventh goal of the season. His twelfth followed. Alexander Sörloth (90th) scored for Leipzig, but RB was once again unable to prove in a top game that they were a serious competitor for Bayern in the battle for the championship.
Schalke prevented the negative record
Previously, FC Schalke 04 had landed a break in the afternoon. With the first victory in the Bundesliga after the unfortunate series of 30 unsuccessful games, the Gelsenkirchen team averted the setting of the negative record from Tasmania Berlin.
Schalke’s triple goalscorer Matthew Hoppe (r.) Celebrates his goal to make it 3-0 with Ozan Kabak. © dpa
With returnees and new captain Sead Kolasinac, the “Royal Blues” won TSG Hoffenheim 4-0. Matthew Hoppe with a three-pack (42./57./63.) Shot the Schalke almost single-handedly to their first victory since January 17, 2020. Amine Harit (80.) finished with the 4-0. Tasmania had not won 31 games in a row in the 1965/66 season.
Schalke left the last place in the table for the first time since matchday 8 under their new coach Christian Gross. The new bottom of the pack is FSV Mainz 05 after a 2-0 home defeat against Eintracht Frankfurt. The form strong SC Freiburg has increased the relegation problems at 1. FC Köln with a 5-0 shooting party. In addition, 1. FC Union Berlin drew against VfL Wolfsburg (2: 2) and Bayer Leverkusen against Werder Bremen (1: 1). (sid, with dpa)
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