Gio Reyna reached a historic milestone for Borussia Dortmund as he was among the goal in their thrilling win over Hoffenheim, while John Brooks and Wolfsburg put themselves atop the Bundesliga standings with their win over RB Leipzig.
Borussia Dortmund 3-2 Hoffenheim
Gio Reyna marked his 50th Bundesliga appearance with a goal, but it would take a winner from Erling Haaland to help Borussia Dortmund steal all three points with their victory over Hoffenheim at Signal Iduna Park.
It was a special night for the American teenager as became the youngest person to play a half-century of games in Germany’s top-flight league. It was also a very strong outing for him as he went on to play 64 minutes, completing 86 percent of his passes, winning one aerial battle, and putting two shots on goal.
A scoreless first half led to a very exciting second interval, with Reyna leading the way with the first goal in the 49th minute. Jude Bellingham was able to poke the ball into the path of his teammate, and Reyna was able to get his shot out of reach of Hoffenheim goalkeeper Oliver Baumann.
Dortmund’s lead did not last long as the visitors found the equalizer in the 61st minute through Christoph Baumgartner.
Bellingham gave BVB the lead again eight minutes later with a strike just inside the area.
The final minutes of the game would be a nail-biter as Hoffenheim once again leveled the score in the 90th minute when Munas Dabbur poked the ball in from close range off a glancing header from Kevin Akpoguma.
However, the host would have to thank their goal-scoring machine, Haaland, for saving their necks with a stoppage-time strike following a scramble for the ball in the area.
The win puts Dortmund in fifth place in the standings with six points.
Wolfsburg 1-0 RB Leipzig
Wolfsburg maintained their 100 percent record over the weekend as they held on for the narrow win over Jesse Marsch’s RB Leipzig at the Volkswagen Arena.
John Brooks had a good outing for the team as he went the distance, completing 84 percent of his passes, winning one aerial battle, and making two clearances. On the other side, Tyler Adams played 85 minutes as he completed 85 percent of his passes and received a yellow card in the loss.
After a very physical first half, in which neither team could find the back of the net, the host would score the only goal of the game in the 52nd minute through Jerome Roussillon as he was on the spot to pounce on the loose ball after Leipzig goalkeeper Peter Gulasci failed to get a handle on it.
The visitors had a few good chances to level the score, but could not find that final punch in the end.
A good win for Wolfsburg as they head into the international break on top, while Marsch will have some time to reassess what changes need to be made to get Leipzig back on track.
Notes
In other Bundesliga action, Joe Scally played the full 90 for Borussia Monchengladbach as they fell to Union Berlin in a 2-1 loss.
Julian Green went 60 minutes while Timothy Tillman watched on from the bench in Greuther Furth’s 3-0 loss to Mainz.
Chris Richards watched all of the action from the bench as Bayern Munich thrashed Hertha Berlin in a 5-0 victory.
Timothy Chandler remained rooted to the bench as Eintracht Frankfurt shared the points with Arminia Bielefeld in a 1-1 draw.
In the 2. Bundesliga, Matthew Hoppe came on to play the final 16 minutes for Schalke in their 3-1 win over Fortuna Dusseldorf.
Jann George played 30 minutes for Jahn Regensburg in their 2-0 loss to St. Pauli.
Ryan Malone played the final 12 minutes for Hansa Rostock in their 3-0 defeat to Werder Bremen.
Jalen Hawkins had a spot on the bench as Ingolstadt came away with a 2-0 win over Sandhausen.
Down in the 3. Liga, Kevin Lankford played 81 minutes and scored a goal as Wehen Wiesbaden surrendered two late goals to fall to Magdeburg in a 4-2 loss.
Terrence Boyd played the full 90 minutes for Hallescher FC while Mael Corboz played the final 11 minutes for Verl as both teams shared the points in an exciting 4-4 draw.
