Borussia Dortmund kicked off the Bundesliga matchday 12 weekend with a disappointing 3-3 home draw against bottom side SC Paderborn on Friday.
Lucien Favre’s men failed to bounce back from their Der Klassiker nightmare, and must now regroup strongly for matchday 13.
Dortmund were down 0-3 at half time as battling Paderborn silenced the Signal Iduna Park home fans with a brace from Streli Mamba (5th and 37th mins) and Gerrit Holtmann 43rd minute goal.
Favre’s men managed to recover in the second half and forced the visitors to a 3-3 draw with goals from Jadon Sancho (47th min), Axel Witsel (84th) and Marco Reus (90th).
“We can never play like that again. It was an absolutely poor performance and we are ashamed. We apologize to all our fans,” Marco Reus said of Dortmund’s shambolic showing against Paderborn.
More Bundesliga matchday 12 games will be played today (Saturday) and competition for places at the top and bottom rung continues.
Borussia Mönchengladbach are out to consolidate their four-point lead at the top of the Bundesliga table , while FC Bayern Munich look to continue their renaissance under Hansi Flick and the other big guns try to close the gap on the Foals.
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Marco Rose’s Mönchengladbach saw off Werder Bremen before the international break and will attempt to make it nine wins from 12 outings as they head to 1. FC Union Berlin today.
Confidence is high at the promoted side, though, after victories over city rivals Hertha Berlin and FSV Mainz 05, so Borussia will need star man Marcus Thuram firing on all cylinders in the capital. Patrick Herrmann is also one to watch after his brace against Bremen.
As Bayern celebrated outgoing president Uli Hoeneb’s retirement last Friday, they also announced that interim coach Hansi Flick will remain in charge until at least the winter break, after he guided the record champions to a UEFA Champions League win over Olympiacos and a sensational 4-0 Klassiker victory against Borussia Dortmund.
Robert Lewandowski will try to score for the 12th straight Bundesliga game this season and take his league-leading haul beyond 16 as Bayern travel to Fortuna Düsseldorf, who played out a barnstorming 3-3 draw with FC Schalke 04 last time out. It also finished 3-3 when Bayern and Düsseldorf met at the Allianz Arena last November.
RB Leipzig begin the weekend ahead of Bayern on goal difference, with the two sides sharing the division’s best attack (29 goals scored). Finding the back of the net certainly hasn’t been a problem for Leipzig in recent weeks, as they put eight past Mainz and four past Hertha.
Timo Werner and Co. will surely have too much for FC Köln, who have dropped to 17th after losing three on the bounce.
Following on the heels of Leipzig and Bayern are surprise package Freiburg, who climbed to fourth after a narrow win over Eintracht Frankfurt on Matchday 11.
Today (Saturday), Christian Streich’s side visit European hopefuls Bayer 04 Leverkusen, who have just snapped a four-game winless run with victory away to VfL Wolfsburg.
Having gone their first nine Bundesliga games unbeaten, the Wolves have now lost two in a row, with a return of two points in four outings seeing them slip to 10th. They will be determined to bounce back, but it won’t be easy at the Commerzbank-Arena, where Frankfurt boast the Bundesliga’s best home record this season (W4, D2).
The best record full stop over the past month belongs to TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, who have surged to fifth place courtesy of five consecutive wins. Coach Alfred
Schreuder will be quietly confident of keeping that run going at home to Mainz, who are 16th after losing three of their last four.
Elsewhere on Bundesliga matchday 12 Schalke will try to boost their European hopes against an out-of-sorts Bremen, who haven’t won since Matchday 4, while FC Augsburg, who finally ended a six-game winless streak in Paderborn a fortnight ago, entertain a Hertha side who have suffered three consecutive defeats.
