Borussia Dortmund Crumbles in Thrilling Der Klassiker
The first Klassiker of the season lived up to expectations, with Bayern Munich running out eventual winners thanks to goals from Arjen Robben and Robert Lewandowski at the Westfallenstadion.
Niklas Süle and Sokratis produced stunning last-ditch tackles to deny Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Robert Lewandowski respectively early on in the match.
However, Dortmund were unable to stop Arjen Robben putting Bayern in front - the former Chelsea winger becoming the Bavarians' highest scoring non-German player of all time in the process.
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James Rodriguez beautiful brought the ball down with his chest and after picking out Bayern's Dutch winger, Robben slammed the ball into Roman Bürki's far post to dampen Dortmund's early hopes.
Andriy Yarmolenko and Shinji Kagawa saw Dortmund's two best chances of the opening 30 minutes narrowly avoid the back of the net, while Robert Lewandowski was denied a goal on his return to his old club by the strong hands of Dortmund's Swiss goalkeeper.
The Polish striker eventually saw his name go up in lights after a backheel deflected off the outstretched leg of Julian Weigl and looped over a helpless Bürki, doubling Bayern's advantage as the two sides went in at half-time.
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Lewandowski should have made it 3-0 with a free header just two minutes after the restart, however, Bürki's strong leg denied the Pole a brace. The Bayern striker continued to be wasteful in front of goal and was unable to put the game to bed.
However, the ball was soon in the back of Dortmund's net once again.
David Alaba spotted the run of Lewandowski in behind the host's defence and despite only getting the slightest touch on the ball, the Polish striker did enough to double his goal tally for the evening.
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Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang then found himself with a rare opportunity to get Dortmund back into the game but Sven Ulreich once again matched the Gabonese striker with an impressive save.
Peter Bosz looked towards 17-year-old Jadon Sancho to turn the game around for Dortmund, the ex-Manchester City prodigy fearless in taking the game to Bayern Munich.
However, it was Spanish centre-back Marc Bartra who finally got Dortmund on the scoresheet.
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After Christian Pulisic nutmegged Arjen Robben to get half a yard of space, Gonzalo Casto set up the former Barcelona defender and Bartra fired the ball into the back of Ulreich's net from an unlikely angle.
Despite the prospect of a late comeback from the hosts, Bartra's curling effort proved to be nothing more than a consolation goal as Dortmund slumped to third in the Bundesliga table.
