Despite Borussia Dortmund's victory over Borussia Monchengladbach on Saturday, Bayern Munich is still in the lead.
Sebastien Haller and Donyell Malen shone in a 5-2 hammering of Borussia Monchengladbach for Borussia Dortmund, keeping pressure on Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga title chase.
Prior to kickoff on Saturday at Signal Iduna Park, Bayern's 6-0 thrashing of Schalke had the champions four points clear at the top. Dortmund quickly cut that lead to one again.
In just 32 minutes, Edin Terzic's home team jumped out to a 4-0 lead as Malen scored once, set up Haller twice, and scored from the penalty spot. Jude Bellingham also scored for the hosts.
Ramy Bensebaini's penalty kick in the 75th minute and substitute Lars Stindl's goal for Gladbach brought the score within one, but Giovanni Reyna's stoppage-time goal ensured that Dortmund had won convincingly.
Dortmund scored their first goal after just five minutes when Malen headed in from a close range after Haller's deflected shot left Jan Olschowsky helpless.
Gladbach was prevented from responding right away by a magnificent Gregor Kobel save against Bensebaini, and that save was crucial since Dortmund dealt a double blow shortly after.
Following an unnecessary foul by Florian Neuhaus on Haller, Bellingham slid a weak penalty past Olschowsky. Haller added a third goal two minutes later by glancing Malen's low cross into the bottom left corner.
Haller's second goal came from another right-wing center from Malen, as the Dortmund attacker forcefully volleyed into the top-right corner.
a lengthening After the break, Olschowsky stopped a fiery Bellingham drive.
With five minutes remaining, Stindl lashed in another consolation goal into the bottom right corner after Bensebaini had cut the deficit with a penalty following a Reyna foul.
However, the Gladbach comeback came too late, and Reyna ended the match by tapping in a late Dortmund goal after an error by Olschowsky.
Why does that matter? Dortmund is still pursuing.
Bayern will continue to be encouraged by the fact that the Bavarian giants eliminated Wolfsburg to win the Bundesliga title 14 years ago, when the battle for the championship was this tight after 31 matchdays.
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