SINSHEIM, Germany (Reuters) – Borussia Dortmund battled past hosts Hoffenheim 3-1 on Friday with veteran Marco Reus on target for a third straight Bundesliga game as they provisionally climbed to the top of the standings.
Dortmund’s third consecutive league win lifted them to 14 points, one ahead of Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich, who are in action on Saturday.
The visitors, who face AC Milan in the Champions League next week, took an 18th minute lead after a defensive error and with Niclas Fuellkrug slotting home for his first goal of the season.
Andrej Kramaric scored with a 25th minute penalty for a deserved equaliser but Dortmund went into the break 2-1 with Reus slotting in after keeper Oliver Baumann spilled a cutback into his path.
Reus, who at 34 was seen as having lost his starting spot for good this season, has now scored three goals in the last three league matches.
Hoffenheim got off to a strong start in the second half and hit the crossbar with a superb Robert Skov freekick, with Dortmund down to 10 following the dismissal of Ramy Bensebaini with a second booking in the 71st.
But it was Dortmund who scored again with Julian Ryerson’s scintillating 70-metre stoppage-time sprint that snapped Hoffenheim’s four-game winning run.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
