Fabio Silva struck in the 89th minute to earn Borussia Dortmund a dramatic 2-2 draw against Bayern Munich after Harry Kane missed a second-half penalty in an entertaining Bundesliga encounter on Saturday.
Bayern appeared to be in control when Kane, making his first appearance since winning the Ballon d’Or on Monday, saw his second-half spot-kick crash against the crossbar.
Dortmund capitalised on the missed opportunity, with Serhou Guirassy restoring parity shortly afterwards. However, Kane made amends by setting up Dayot Upamecano to put the hosts back in front.
Just when Bayern looked set to claim all three points, substitutes Konstantinos Karetsas and Silva combined in the closing stages, with the latter finding the net to secure a share of the spoils for Dortmund.
“Coming back twice here in Munich is no easy feat. We earned a well-deserved point here today,” Dortmund coach Niko Kovac told Sky Germany, adding that his team “never stopped believing in ourselves.”
The result leaves both sides level at the top of the Bundesliga standings, with defending champions Bayern occupying first place on goal difference.
It was only the fourth time in the last 18 editions of the fiercely contested Klassiker that Bayern had failed to secure victory.
However, the draw was not Bayern’s only concern, as the club suffered further injury setbacks ahead of Tuesday’s trip to Atletico Madrid.
With Vincent Kompany absent while recovering from a virus, Bayern also saw Ismael Saibari, Serge Gnabry and Michael Olise substituted due to injury concerns. Jamal Musiala and Luis Diaz were already sidelined.
Bayern sporting director Max Eberl described the draw as potentially “costly”, adding that the injuries to Saibari and Gnabry appeared “somewhat serious”.
Captain Joshua Kimmich, who returned after missing three matches following the sudden death of his father, admitted that the club was going through a difficult period.
“It’s been a really, really hard week, but you can forget during the game,” he said.
“Other than the result today, you have to say we’re going through difficult moments right now, now with the injuries we picked up.”
Before kick-off, Kane was honoured as his Ballon d’Or award was presented to Bayern supporters for the first time.
Dortmund thought they had taken the lead in the 35th minute when Jobe Bellingham scored from close range, but VAR ruled out the effort for offside.
Bayern immediately punished the visitors, with Konrad Laimer capitalising on a poor pass from Felix Nmecha before racing forward to score.
The hosts started the second half strongly and were awarded a penalty after Nmecha handled the ball. However, Kane squandered the opportunity by firing his effort against the crossbar.
Dortmund responded almost immediately. Captain Nico Schlotterbeck intercepted a pass from Kane, surged forward and found Carney Chukwuemeka, who laid the ball off for Guirassy to finish at the near post.
Kane appeared to have redeemed himself when he provided the assist for Upamecano’s goal, but Silva’s late intervention ensured Dortmund left Munich with a point.
Fuellkrug extends scoring run as Bremen beat Hoffenheim
Werder Bremen striker Niclas Fuellkrug continued his impressive scoring form since returning to the club on a season-long loan from West Ham United, opening the scoring in a 2-0 victory over Hoffenheim.
Eren Dinkci also found the net, but Fuellkrug once again stole the headlines after scoring in his seventh consecutive Bundesliga start to equal Rudi Voeller’s club record, set during the 1982-83 season.
“I don’t score these goals to break records,” Fuellkrug said, although he admitted the achievement was “nice”.
“It’s an absolute joy to play with this group,” he added.
The 33-year-old has now scored 12 goals in 10 matches across all competitions for Bremen this season, a remarkable turnaround after managing just three goals in 18 months at West Ham and one during a six-month loan spell at AC Milan.
Leipzig secure first away win
RB Leipzig claimed their first away points of the Bundesliga season with a 2-0 victory over promoted Schalke.
Antonio Nusa opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the 37th minute before Romulo sealed the win with 12 minutes remaining.
The victory was an important boost for Leipzig ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League clash against Manchester City.
Despite winning all four of their home league matches with an impressive aggregate score of 18-0, Leipzig had lost all three of their previous away fixtures this season.
The result lifted Leipzig to fourth place, one point behind third-placed Freiburg, who came from behind to defeat Augsburg 2-1.
Meanwhile, Ermedin Demirovic scored twice as Stuttgart ended their poor run with an emphatic 4-2 away victory over in-form Bayer Leverkusen.
Jamie Leweling and Bilal El Khannouss were also on target for Stuttgart, who had managed just three victories in their previous eight matches.
AFP
