Bayer Leverkusen 2-1 Borussia Dortmund: BVB suffer another blow in Bundesliga title race

It was a disappointing evening for Borussia Dortmund in Leverkusen on Tuesday, as they were handed a 2-1 defeat courtesy of a late Florian Wirtz winner. On a night where they had hoped to potentially jump to third place in the Bundesliga table and reduce the gap to Bayern Munich to just four points, Dortmund were simply outplayed by an impressive Bayer Leverkusen side.

The hosts looked far superior throughout, and took the lead after just 15 minutes through highly rated forward Moussa Diaby. Leon Bailey picked his fellow attacker out with a beautiful long-range diagonal pass. Diaby’s sublime outside-of-the-boot first touch took him away from Raphael Guerreiro and Mats Hummels. And the Frenchman found the back of the net by finishing between Roman Bürki’s feet.

Dortmund’s attacking arsenal struggled to muster any potent attacking threat of their own in response during the first half. Julian Brandt fired high and wide with a curler from just inside the area after a small period of pressure from the visitors.

But it was still Leverkusen who looked the more dangerous team. Bürki redeemed his poor positioning for the opener by making a good save from Diaby. Soon after, Florian Wirtz released the dynamic winger again, Bürki parried his effort back into danger and Lucas Alario’s shot was deflected over for a corner.

Moussa Diaby was proving to be a handful for the Dortmund defence time and again, and his next impressive move saw him float a lovely cross for Lucas Alario. Bürki did well to meet the header low to his left.

Leverkusen had been the far superior side, but going into the break, the question lingered- would those missed chances haunt them?

The hosts looked the sharper of the two sides again after the restart. Diaby again caused problems down Dortmund’s left hand side before finding Bailey, who fired over.

It took until the hour mark for Dortmund to wake up and really generate any nice patterns of attacking play. Julian Brandt released Haaland for his first clear chance of the game, but it was blocked well by Edmond Tapsoba. Moments later, Brandt was released down the right hand side, but this time, he couldn’t find Haaland who was on for the square pass from the German international.

Julian Brandt finally finds some form for Borussia Dortmund

The pressure told for Dortmund soon after. Another attack fizzled out when Sancho’s diagonal pass in the box was picked out easily. Thomas Delaney battled well to pick up on loose possession from Diaby, the ball was laid off by Guerrero to Brandt, who pushed it onto his right foot and fired a sublime finish past Lukáš Hrádecký for his first Bundesliga goal of the season against his former club.

Just one minute later, Brandt had the chance to put Borussia Dortmund ahead. Bellingham was released down the left side of the box, and stood a good ball up at the back post, where Brandt was incoming, but Edmond Tapsoba was on hand to block his attempt on the line.

Then, Marco Reus cut a ball across to the edge of the box for Sancho, but he failed to find the right connection and the shot went wide.

Florian Wirtz nets winner as Bayer Leverkusen win end-to-end battle

The game had suddenly shifted into an end-to-end tussle, with both sides putting their foot on the accelerator.

The Borussia Dortmund defence was soon shut down again by Bayer Leverkusen. The visitors were sloppy in possession once again, and this time were made to pay. Thomas Meunier’s chest lay off to Akanji just inside their own half was intercepted by Patrik Schick, who exchanged a one-two with Diaby. The dangerous attacker then squared the ball for teenage sensation Florian Wirtz, and the 17 year old calmly smashed past Bürki to make it 2-1.

Until the goal, it seemed that Borussia Dortmund might be about to build to a dazzling finish. The Wirtz finish however proved be the knockout blow for Borussia Dortmund, as they suffered their sixth defeat of the season.

The defeat leaves Borussia Dortmund in fourth place, and they could find themselves out of the top four if Union Berlin manage to beat RB Leipzig on Wednesday. Next up for the Black and Yellows is a trip to Borussia Mönchengladbach on Friday.