On September 29, 2023, Dortmund defender Julian Ryerson (L) celebrates with his teammates after scoring a goal during their Bundesliga match against Hoffenheim in Sinsheim. The match was part of the Bundesliga.
After a 3-1 victory on the road against Hoffenheim on Friday, Borussia Dortmund will spend the night on top of the Bundesliga standings for the first time since the final round of the previous season. This comes despite the fact that Borussia Dortmund finished the game with 10 men.
Niclas Fuellkrug scored his first goal for the club early on, giving Dortmund the lead. However, nearly immediately after taking the lead, Dortmund succumbed, with Mats Hummels giving away a penalty that allowed Andrej Kramaric to equalise from the penalty spot.
Marco Reus scored a goal for Borussia Dortmund in the first half injury time with a fantastic, acrobatic effort to put Dortmund back in the lead. This was the former captain’s third goal in three games.
Ramy Bensebaini, a wing-back for Dortmund, was shown two yellow cards within four minutes of the second half and was subsequently sent off after the team had successfully repelled waves of raids from Hoffenheim.
Julian Ryerson, a defender for the team, scored a third goal for them in the fifth minute of injury time by scoring on the counterattack.
According to Dortmund’s head coach Edin Terzic, “it was an important win for us,” but the team still has “room to improve.”
“After the referee showed the red card, the game was over. We demonstrated a different side of ourselves; more specifically, we demonstrated that we intended to protect the triumph.
Gregor Kobel, the team’s captain, said that the victory “wasn’t as dominant as we wanted,” but he gave respect to his teammates for performing “those small things, which maybe aren’t so spectacular” to ensure victory.
Dortmund entered the encounter under pressure despite the fact that they had a perfect record to open the league season. However, Terzic’s team was unable to impress.
The Hoffenheim defender John Brooks was responsible for Dortmund taking the lead early in the match when he allowed Julian Brandt to take possession of the ball and then let it drift into the path of Fuellkrug, who finished the goal with a powerful shot.
It was Dortmund’s time to welcome the other team into the game, and Hummels brought down Anton Stach on the outside of the box. At this point in the game, Dortmund was confident and in control of the situation.
After first awarding a free kick, the referee subsequently pointed to the penalty spot based on the VAR review, and then Kramaric scored by sending Kobel the wrong way to tie the game.
Malen made his way down the right side for Dortmund and set up Reus for a goal with a brilliant individual effort as the first half was coming to a close, allowing Dortmund to regain the lead and take it into the break with a 1-0 advantage.
Grischa Proemel forced a frantic close-range stop from Kobel shortly before Robert Skov’s free kick hit the bar, as Hoffenheim stormed out of the blocks early in the second half, fearing that they would suffer their first defeat of the season. Hoffenheim appeared destined to equalise early in the second half.
Bensebaini, whose team was struggling but still hanging on, provided his coach another difficulty by picking up two yellow cards in the span of four minutes — the second for kicking the ball away in disgust — bringing his team’s roster down to 10 players.
As time wore down, Terzic made all of his five substitutions, and Ryerson celebrated his 100th Bundesliga match by scoring on the counter to send the away team to the top of the league. Ryerson’s goal sent the away team to the top of the standings.
The German Cup holders, RB Leipzig, will play home to the defending champions, Bayern, on Saturday in the round’s most important encounter, with both teams having the opportunity to move ahead of Dortmund with a win.