BERLIN: Champions Borussia Dortmund slumped to a 4-1 home defeat to Hamburg SV but held on to second place in the Bundesliga after Bayer Leverkusen conceded a late equalizer in a 3-3 draw at Borussia Moenchengladbach yesterday.
Latvian Artjoms Rudnevs and South Korea international Son Heung-min each scored twice as Hamburg ended Dortmund’s run of four wins, with both teams reduced to 10 men by red cards.
The results will allow first-placed Bayern Munich, on 51 points, to extend their lead to 15 if they beat out-of-form Schalke 04 later on Saturday. Dortmund are second on 39 points and Leverkusen a point further behind in third.
Eintracht Frankfurt failed to take advantage of Dortmund’s and Leverkusen’s slip-ups, grinding out a goalless draw against Nuremberg to remain in fourth place on 37 points.
Werder Bremen beat VfB Stuttgart 4-1 with the hosts left licking their wounds after their fifth straight defeat that adds pressure on coach Bruno Labbadia, who only last month extended his deal to 2015.
VfL Wolfsburg climbed further away from the relegation zone with a 1-0 victory over bottom-placed Greuther Fuerth thanks to Bas Dost’s eighth goal of the campaign to move up to 12th on 26 points.
Dortmund’s Robert Lewandowski made the most of a defensive blunder by Hamburg captain Heiko Westermann to latch on to an awkward Mats Hummels cross to slot in his 14th league goal in the 17th minute.
Their lead, however, lasted only a minute as Rudnevs, left unmarked in the area, tapped in after a well-timed cutback from Dennis Aogo on the left.
The visitors went ahead when Son drilled home a superb shot off the post.
To make matters worse for the hosts, Lewandowski, a transfer target for several major European clubs, was shown a straight red for kicking Per Skjelbred on the half-hour.
The numerical balance was restored after 60 minutes with Jeffrey Bruma sent off after a foul on Dortmund’s Marco Reus, but Rudnevs responded with his 10th goal, beating two markers at the far post to head in a Rafael van der Vaart cross.
Son completed a memorable evening for the northern German club when he slotted in from close range after connecting with a Marcell Jansen cross as Hamburg moved up to fifth and in contention for a European spot.
Leverkusen twice came from a goal down to level against Gladbach, and then Andre Schuerrle put them in the driving seat with a third in the 64th minute.
But Patrick Herrmann secured a point for the hosts with his 86th minute header, which enabled Gladbach to hold on to seventh place.
