Marco Reus succumb to injury yet again as they drew 2-2 at
Paderborn on Saturday.
Dortmund took a deserved early lead through Pierre-Emerick
Aubameyang's tap-in before Reus slotted home on the stroke of
half-time as the visitors looked on course for a second
successive league win.
But Lukas Rupp gave the hosts hope midway through the secon
half with a terrific individual strike, and they were further
buoyed when Reus' afternoon ended following a strong
challenge from Marvin Bakalorz, who was arguably lucky to only
be given a yellow card.
That injury noticeably rocked Jurgen Klopp's men, who had a
Kevin Grosskreutz effort ruled out for offside when Dortmund
led 2-1.
And Paderborn took full advantage of the reprieve to earn a
share of spoils, levelling eight minutes from time through Mahir
Saglik's header.
It was certainly an eventful afternoon for the visitors and Reus,
with head coach Klopp admitting earlier in the week that the
German international could be tempted by a move away from
Dortmund.
The 25-year-old nearly gave Dortmund the best possible start
within just two minutes, with goalkeeper Lukas Kruse having to
be alert to smother after a cutting throughball from Henrikh
Mkhitaryan.
That early chance set the tone for the game as the visitors
enjoyed the best of the opening exchanges.
And they were rewarded after 12 minutes when Erik Durm
found some space on the left and picked out Aubameyang with
an inch-perfect cross that he finished with a simple tap-in from
close range.
Paderborn kept battling, though, and nearly drew themselves
level seven minutes later when Suleyman Koc burst into the box
to force a good save from Roman Weidenfeller after latching on
to Bakalorz's incisive pass.
But Dortmund continued to look the better side, with
Aubameyang twice firing wide after 25 minutes before
Mkhitaryan saw an effort ruled out for offside.
Koc curled a free-kick wide for the hosts five minutes before the
break, but Dortmund ended the half two goals to the good
courtesy of Reus, who was on hand to finish a fine move that
saw the defence split open by Aubameyang's deft first-touch
pass.
Reus nearly doubled his tally just after the restart, but his angled
drive was well saved by Kruse, who was also at full stretch to
deny Aubameyang 10 minutes later.
Dortmund's failure to notch a third was punished on the hour,
when Rupp shook off the attentions of Neven Subotic and
Grosskreutz to burst into the area and slot home.
Things got worse for the visitors seven minutes later when a
cynical challenge from Bakalorz forced Reus off with a
suspected ankle injury.
Grosskreutz should have sealed the win 17 minutes from time,
but the substitute could only fire wide after breaking free of the
home defence and he then had another effort controversially
ruled out for offside 10 minutes from time.
And Paderborn made Dortmund pay courtesy of Saglik's header
ensuring an eventful end to the first competitive meeting
between the two sides.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.
0 comments:
Post a Comment