Dortmund late show seals win over Hoffenheim

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Borussia Dortmund came from behind to keep up the pursuit of FC Bayern München at the top of the Bundesliga with a 3-1 win over ten-man TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.

Borussia Dortmund 3-1 TSG 1899 Hoffenheim

Goals: 0-1 Rudy (25'), 1-1 Mkhitaryan (80'), 2-1 Ramos (85'), 3-1 Aubameyang (90+2')

Red card: Rudy (58')

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Sebastian Rudy celebrated his 26th birthday in style as he set the wheels in motion on the attack which led to him opening the scoring after Roman Bürki could only parry Kevin Volland's initial effort. Volland himself nearly made it two as Hoffenheim sought to crown an impressive opening only for Bürki to turn the shot behind for a corner. Dortmund struggled throughout much of the first half, but almost snatched an equaliser on the stroke of half-time when Marco Reus' free-kick drew a fine save out of Oliver Baumann.

Ilkay Gündogan was sent on for Shinji Kagawa at the break and almost made an immediate impact, striking the post with a shot that had Baumann beaten before Reus subsequently sent the rebound over. Dortmund were now in the ascendency and, after a foul by Rudy which nipped a counterattack in the bud which earned him a red card, the hosts eventually took advantage of the extra man. Gündogan teed up Henrikh Mkhitaryan to bring Thomas Tuchel's men level with a precise shot before Adrian Ramos headed in Lukasz Piszczek's cross and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang wrapped up victory in stoppage time.

Man of the match

Gündogan’s introduction off the bench and Rudy’s red card certainly helped, but the driving force for Dortmund was Henrikh Mkhitaryan who grabbed a goal and an assist having worked his socks off for the full 90 minutes.

Talking point

Sebastian Rudy's birthday was a mixture of joy and despair: he scored his second goal of the season, with both coming home and away against Dortmund, but a red card effectively compromised Hoffenheim's hopes of holding on to victory.

Match stats

    Marco Reus played his 100th game in the Bundesliga for Dortmund, and wore the captain's armband.Dortmund found themselves behind at half-time for only the second time this season, the first on Matchday 7 against Darmstadt when they went on to draw 2-2.Mkhitaryan's ninth goal of the season saw him level his best haul for a season – as many as in 2013/14.Every time the Armenian has scored, Dortmund have won – that streak has now extended to 18 games.

Line-ups

Dortmund: Bürki - Piszczek, Subotic, Bender, Schmelzer – Weigl (74' Ramos) – Kagawa (46' Gündogan), Sahin (74' Leitner) - Mkhitaryan, Reus (c) - Aubameyang

Hoffenheim: Baumann - Süle, Schär, Bicakcic - Kaderabek, Toljan - Strobl – Rudy (c), Amiri (63' Polanski) - Uth, Volland (72' Hamad)