BERLIN: Borussia Dortmund striker Sebastien Haller mentioned his facet have been reaching “one thing stunning” after a 3-0 victory at Augsburg on Sunday despatched them inside one win of the Bundesliga name. “It’s simply improbable. If any individual advised me I might be on this state of affairs six months in the past, I wouldn’t have believed them,” an emotional Haller advised DAZN. Haller was once identified with testicular most cancers in a while after signing with Dortmund and underwent 4 rounds of chemotherapy and two operations, lacking six months earlier than returning in January.
Dortmund sat in 6th position in January, however have misplaced simply one in every of their 18 suits within the league since Haller returned. Dortmund at the moment are two issues transparent with one fit last, a raxre incidence after a decade of Bayern Munich dominance. The general spherical of video games kick off on the similar time subsequent Saturday. To boost the Bundesliga defend for the primary time since 2011-12, Dortmund will desire a victory at house in opposition to Mainz provided that Bayern win at Cologne.
If Bayern draw or lose, Dortmund can be champions even supposing they lose. German tabloid Bild had fun after the win, operating the headline “Haller-luja, Dortmund shut in at the name”. Despite the fact that Dortmund ruled and Augsburg have been diminished to ten males overdue within the first half of, the sport was once scoreless till the 58th minute, when Haller pounced on an error via a defender to attain the opener. He added some other from a rebound with the clock winding down, sending the visiting lovers into raptures. Julian Brandt struck in harm time to seal the outcome.
‘Glad and proud’
“We’re more than pleased, however now not totally happy,” Dortmund supervisor Edin Terzic advised DAZN. “We’ve were given a subsequent step we want to take”. A “glad and proud” Haller advised DAZN: “We’ve were given an enormous probability to reach one thing large.” Dortmund, who got here into the sport understanding victory would put them in regulate of the name race, however made the shuttle with out injured midfielder Jude Bellingham, have been winless at the highway since February.
Dortmund, who had scored 11 objectives of their previous two video games, managed the primary half of however may now not discover a step forward, Haller forcing a fingertip save from Tomas Koubek. In a while earlier than half-time last-man Felix Uduokhai earned a pink card, bringing down Donyell Malen at the fringe of the penalty field. Augsburg supervisor Enrico Maassen mentioned “the pink card was once the the most important second… you’ll be able to give it, however that’s a difficult determination.”
Haller in any case broke thru for the guests, snapping up a unfastened ball earlier than spinning and threading the ball into the some distance nook. With simply over 5 mins last, Haller pounced on a rebound from a Marco Reus shot to place Dortmund 2-0 up, sending the visiting lovers right into a chant of “German champions, handiest Dortmund”. With the clock winding down, Dortmund captain Mats Hummels was once helped off the sphere after taking a boot to the face. The centre-back’s substitute, Nico Schlotterbeck, put the ball thru for Brandt to attain a 3rd.
Stuttgart keep alive
Previous, a target and two assists from change Chris Fuehrich gave Stuttgart a large spice up of their relegation struggle, with a 4-1 win away at Mainz. Introduced on with half-hour last and the ratings locked 1-1, Fuehrich laid on a target for Serhou Guirassy simply two mins later, earlier than including one in every of his personal. The winger arrange some other target in harm time for Tanguy Coulibaly to take his facet from the relegation puts to the protection of fifteenth.
In Sunday’s overdue recreation, Bayer Leverkusen gave away a two-goal lead with two defensive mistakes to attract 2-2 in opposition to Borussia Moenchengladbach at house. Europa League semi-finalists Leverkusen have been cruising after first-half objectives to Amine Adli and Kerem Demirbay, however gave the ball away in entrance of target two times to let Gladbach ranking two times. Leverkusen have been diminished to 10 males overdue in harm time when Piero Hincapie noticed immediately pink for a terrible problem on Gladbach’s Julian Weigl. — AFP