Dortmund fight back to defeat Werder Bremen, stay in title hunt

Updated: May 17, 2023, 06:01 am

Borussia Dortmund returned to within five points of Bayern Munich at the top of the Bundesliga after a dramatic late turnaround earned a 3-2 win over Werder Bremen.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang put Dortmund in front, but a shock appeared to be on the cards when a Gonzalo Castro own goal and Zlatko Junuzovic effort put Bremen in front with 16 minutes left.

But Substitutes Shinji Kagawa and Adrian Ramos turned the game around again as Dortmund warmed up for their Europa League clash with Liverpool on Thursday by remaining in the hunt for the Bundesliga title.

Bremen defended deep but with such organisation that Dortmund found themselves spending too much time going left and right rather than forward.

When they were able to get the ball into the penalty area there was invariably a green shirt in the vicinity to clear the danger.

Erik Durm's frustration-induced shot off target and a Castro effort which stung Felix Wiedwald's palms were the closest they came to breaking the deadlock in the first half.

Adrian Ramos celebrates his winning goal against Werder Bremen on Saturday.
Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Bongarts/Getty Images

Things soon changed in the second half when Dortmund's attacking trio of Reus, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Aubameyang combined in deadly fashion, with the latter using his pace to shake off Jannik Vestergaard and then lob the ball over Wiedwald.

Dortmund did not build on their advantage, though, and a sustained spell of Bremen pressure resulted in an equaliser.

Alejandro Galvez's shot was deflected into his own goal by Castro, but Bremen were not done there.

Levin Oztunali doggedly got back on his feet after being hacked down by Sven Bender and the Bremen midfielder pulled the ball back to Junuzovic, who fired his shot into the far corner of Roman Burki's goal to temporarily silence the Westfalenstadion.

Dortmund now had to do the attacking, and they did not waste any time in levelling with Marcel Schmelzer crossing for substitute Kagawa to place in from seven yards in the 77th minute.

And victory was secured five minutes later when another substitute, Ramos, headed Dortmund's winner with his first touch of the ball from Mkhitaryan's corner.