It was good news for U.S. men’s national team fans as Giovanni Reyna made his long-awaited return for Borussia Dortmund, but it came in a heavy loss to Bayer Leverkusen.
Borussia Dortmund 2-5 Bayer Leverkusen
It was rough going for Borussia Dortmund as they were left shellshocked by Bayer Leverkusen at Signal Iduna Park.
Giovanni Reyna, who made his return after a long spell out due to injury, came on to play 30 minutes, completing all of his passes and winning two duels while taking one shot.
The hosts only had themselves to blame when they went down a goal after 10 minutes. Pressure from Leverkusen saw them lose the ball and allow Patrick Schick to take a shot Gregor Kobel was able to block the attempt, but the rebound hit Manuel Akanji and the ball rolled into the goal.
It was then the visitors turn to return the favor six minutes later when Jeremie Frimpong sent a glancing header into his own goal from a Julian Brandt free-kick.
However, Leverkusen restored their lead in the 20th minute from a counter-attack as Florian Wirtz put away a cross from Karim Bellarabi.
Robert Andrich gave them a two-goal lead eight minutes later with a sublime free-kick on the edge of the area that caught Kobel totally off guard.
Leverkusen’s momentum carried over to the second half as they scored a fourth goal in the 53rd minute. Jonathan Tah volleyed home his shot after a scramble for the ball following a corner kick.
Moussa Diaby scored the visitor’s last goal of the day in the 87th minute to complete another counter-attack.
Steffen Tigges scored for Dortmund in the 89th minute, but the damage was done as a chorus of boos rained down for the team’s performance.
Despite the loss, Borussia Dortmund remains in second place in the standings with 43 points.
Wolfsburg 4-1 Greuther Furth
Wolfsburg gave themselves a boost in their fight to avoid a relegation battle as they claimed a big win over Greuter Furth at Volkswagen Arena.
John Brooks played 85 minutes for the Wolves, completing 86 percent of his passes and winning five duels, while Kevin Paredes watched on from the bench. On the other side, Timothy Tillman played 85 minutes, completing 68 percent of his passes and winning five duels. Julian Green would come on to play the last 15 minutes.
The hosts jumped out in front after seven minutes when Aster Vranckx put away the rebound from close range.
Greuther Furth was then given a chance to level the score before halftime when the referee pointed to the spot for a penalty. Sebastiaan Bornaux was judged to have brought down Jeremy Dudziak in the area. Branimir Hrgota stepped up to put away the spot-kick.
The second half belonged to Wolfsburg as Vranckx scored his second on the night in the 49th minute. Greuther Furth goalkeeper came off his mark, leaving the goal exposed, and the Belgian striker made him pay for his error.
Maximilian Arnold added a third for the host in the 70th minute with a magnificent long-range direct free-kick.
Wolfsburg rounded out the scoring in the 75th minute when Maximilian Philipp’s half-volley attempt took a deflection and ended up in the back of the net.
The win moves Wolfsburg up to 12th place with 24 points, while Greuther Furth remains at the bottom with 10 points.
Notes
Elsewhere in the Bundesliga, Timothy Chandler went the distance for Eintracht Frankfurt in their 3-2 win over Stuttgart.
George Bello played the last 19 minutes for Arminia Bielefeld while Joe Scally was on the bench for Borussia Monchengladbach as both teams played out a 1-1 draw.
In the 2. Bundesliga, Ryan Malone played the full 90 minutes for Hansa Rostock in their 4-1 win over Dynamo Dresden.
Nicolas Carrera was on the bench for Holstein Kiel as they came away with a 1-0 win over Fortuna Dusseldorf.
Jann George had a place on the bench as Erzgebirge Aue was shut out in a 2-0 defeat to Sandhausen.
Down in the 3. Liga, Terrence Boyd was on the scoresheet for Kaiserslautern as they blanked John Gomez and Zwickau in a 2-0 win.
Mael Corboz played 71 minutes for Verl as they shared the points following a 0-0 draw with Hallescher.
Kevin Lankford played 64 minutes for Wehen Wiesbaden as they fell to leaders Magdeburg in a 3-1 loss.
Justin Butler played the last 15 minutes for Waldhof Mannheim in a 3-2 win over Viktoria Berlin.
