Dortmund Has Man Sent Off in Six Goal Thriller Against Hannover 96
Borussia Dortmund couldn't increase their lead at the top of the Bundesliga, after they lost 4-2 to over-achieving Hannover 96 in a thrilling encounter.
Dortmund were looking to extend their lead at the top of the Bundesliga to four points when they took on Hannover 96 at the HDI-Arena, whilst Hannover were looking to get what would be just their second win in their last seven games, and increase the pressure on Hoffenheim who led them by just one point in fourth place heading into the game.
Dortmund made three changes to the side that drew 2-2 to Eintracht Frankfurt in their last Bundesliga outing. Out came Neven Subotic, Julian Weigl and Jeremy Toljan, with Dan-Axel Zagadou, Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Jurgen Schmelzer joining starting line-up. The home side also made three changes from their last Bundesliga game, as Kenan Karaman, Iver Fossum and Martin Harnik were replaced by Oliver Sorg, Marvin Bakalorz and Felix Klaus.
Dortmund's summer signing Andriy Yarmolenko created the first opportunity of the game inside two minutes when we put an inviting ball across the face of goal, with Hannover having to force a corner before a yellow shirt could get on the end of the cross.
After a spell of end to end action, Hannover caught Dortmund out on a counter attack which saw Klaus chasing onto a through ball. He was one-on-one with goalkeeper Roman Burki, took the ball past the Swiss international and was awarded a penalty after a reckless challenge by Burki.
After the video assistant confirmed the penalty decision, Johnathas stepped up and sent Burki the wrong way to score Hannover's first penalty of the the season, and put the home side 1-0 up after 20 minutes.
Dortmund responded well, creating a number of openings however couldn't put the ball in the back of the net. Their hard work soon payed off, after the home side failed to clear the danger following a corner, setting the ball up nicely for young centre-back Zagadou to lash home from 12 yards out to give Dortmund the equaliser just seven minutes after going behind.
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Dortmund should have then gone ahead 10 minutes later, when Christian Pulisic slid the ball into the path of Yarmolenko who was left unmarked just 12 yards out from goal, however wasn't able to hit the target as he skied an effort many would've expected him to finish.
He was made to rue his missed chance just five minutes later as another counter attack launched by Hannover saw Johnathas play a perfectly waited cross into Ihlas Bebou, who managed to slot the ball beyond Burki to give the home side their second lead of the afternoon and the lead at the half-time interval. Dortmund shook things up at half-time with Shinji Kagawa replacing Gonzalo Castro ahead of the second half. The shake up worked a treat for Dortmund as they came out of the dressing room fired up, and were level once again just six minutes into the second half after Yarmolenko's tidy volley flew into Philipp Tschauner's bottom left hand corner. However just as the momentum was looking to turn in Dortmund's favour, Zagadou was shown a straight red card after he brought down Johnathas who was through on goal, giving Hannover a free kick on the edge of the area.
Klaus stepped up and struck a wonderful free kick, getting the ball up and over the wall with Burki having no chance of saving it, giving Hannover their third lead of the game. After a spell of pressure from the away side, Hannover clinched all three points with five minutes remaining. Dortmund's defence was left wide open as Bebou latched onto a through ball, cut inside and slotted the ball past Burki to make it 4-2 and ensured the win for the home side.
The defeat means Dortmund have not won any of their last three Bundesliga games, and have now given Bayern Munich the chance to steal top spot as they take on RB Leipzig in today's late kick-off.
As for Hannover, they now move into fourth place with the win after Schalke 04 dropped points at home to Wolfsburg, and they now trail RB Leipzig in third place by just one point.
