Borussia Dortmund edged Hoffeheim 1-0 at the Rhein-Necka Arena to go top of the Bundesliga table.
The visitors who are enjoying a purple patch showed their intent right from the start. Jamie Bynoe-Gittens tested Hoffenheim goalkeeper Oliver Baumann with a hard drive but the shot stopper was far from troubled as he kept the shot out.
Hoffenheim had their moment too. Christoph Baumgartner’s effort was blocked, but Ozan Kabak headed the high rebound over with the goal at his mercy.
Dortmund almost found a breakthrough through Sabastien Haller, but Baumann denied him, thwarting his effort for a corner.
It was in the 43rd minute that Julian Brandt found what turned out to be the winning goal. Brandt connected a Marco Reus’ free kick to give the visitors the lead .
After the interval, both teams returned strongly and Dortmund had an appeal for a penalty, but VAR turned it down as the foul was reviewed to be out of the penalty area.
Brandt who was a thorn in their opponent’s backline then latched onto a loose ball before sending in a long range effort into the back of the net, but was denied a second goal by the VAR for a foul on Ihlas Bebou by Nico Schlotterbeck.
Baumann once again came to the home team’s rescue when he parried away the goal-scorer’s effort for a corner kick that led to another brilliant effort, but the custodian was at his best to deny the same person.
Both teams created chances but couldn’t make a thing out of them. Hoffenheim were also denied by Gregor Kobel who parried Baumgartner’s brilliant effort from 20 yards in the 66th minute.
Four minutes later, Andrej Kramaric’s long range drive missed the mark by inches as Hoffenheim searched for an equalizer.
Dolberg made a run down the left before unleashing a tremendous effort but Kobel was in position to keep it out whereas Fisnik Asllani missed a free header at the near post denying the hosts a leveller.
Jude Bellingham would have burried the game in the dying minutes, but his effort hit the woodwork.
Dortmund held on to win 1-0. They now go top of the table dislodging Bayern Munich who face off against third placed Union Berlin on Sunday.
Dortmund started the game level on points with both Bayern and Union Berlin, but they are now outright leaders. Should Bayern and Union Berlin share points tomorrow, the Die Schwarzgelben will remain as league leaders.
