Borussia Dortmund edged RB Leipzig 2-1 at the Westfalenstadion to go top of the Bundesliga table on Friday.
Two first half strikes from captain Marcos Reus and Emre Can were enough to see off hard fighting Leipzig who despite pulling one back in the second half , couldn’t find the leveller.
The thrilling game saw the visitors threatening to get an early lead but influential striker Christopher Nkunku who was starting for the first time since returning from injury lacked the killer punch to put away two successive chances.
The hosts saw Julian Brandt’s effort perfectly blocked in the 17th minute . Two minutes later Reus was put through, raced clear on goal before goalkeeper Janis Blaswich brought him down in the forbidden area for a penalty.
The skipper converted the penalty for his 159th club goal which puts him joint second behind Adi Preibler on 177, who holds the record.
Leipzig almost got the equaliser but Marcel Halstenberg missed the target following Emil Forsberg’s cross in the 35th minute.
The Die Schwarzgelben continued to dominate the proceedings before Julian Brandt once again raced down on the right flank but was fouled for a freekick that resulted into the second goal in the 39th minute.
It was the clearance from the freekick that Can pounced on to score from 20 yards with a deflected effort to take a two-goal cushion into the halftime break.
The hosts wasted a chance to kill the game off but Reus’ curling effort was kept out by Blaswich in the 67th minute.
With the two goal lead, Dortmund took the foot off the peddle allowing the visitors to regain control of the game and it was just a matter of time before Forsberg deservedly pulled one back with a sliding finish that connected a low cross from substitute David Raum on the left with 16 minutes to go.
Dortmund survived a late scare as the visitors searched for the leveller. Edin Terzic’s men held on to win 2-1 and moved top of the table with 3 points clear of Bayern Munich who play later on Saturday. The Die Schwarzgelben have now won 11 straight games in all competitions.
Speaking after the game, Forsberg said: “It was a real top match tonight unfortunately, it was not enough for us in the end and is bitter .But we have to keep our heads up as there are still a lot of great matches infront.”
