Hannover's Kiyotake condemns Dortmund to sixth league defeat

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Dortmund - Hiroshi Kiyotake netted a worthy matchwinner as Borussia Dortmund fell to a 1-0 defeat at home to ten-man Hannover 96.

Cat-like Zieler

The Japanese international struck midway through the second half, although visiting goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler was the true hero of the hour, pulling off a handful of world-class saves to leave BVB without a league win in their last six matches. Ceyhun Gülselam's late red card was merely academic.

Without a clean sheet after eight league games, Jürgen Klopp was able to name Roman Weidenfeller, Lukasz Piszczek, Mats Hummels, Neven Subotic and Ilkay Gündogan in the same starting line-up for the first time since Dortmund's UEFA Champions League final defeat to FC Bayern München in May 2013. The move should have galvanised the hosts, but it was Hannover who almost went in front when former BVB midfielder Leonardo Bittencourt flashed wide from ten yards.

There were, however, glimpses of the Dortmund side that made it as far as Wembley some 18 months ago as Henrikh Mkhitaryan shimmied into space and forced a smart save out of Zieler. Mats Hummels went closer still with a bullet header that looked for all the world a goal, only for the Hannover stopper to turn the ball onto the upright, before Marco Reus sent a wicked low effort past the left-hand post from range.

Reus chances


The visitors looked to have weathered the first-half storm, but Dortmund went up a gear as Reus landed a teasing left-footed strike onto the roof of the net after combining with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. BVB's Gabonese flier turned provider again moments later, but his front-post cross was cut out by Felipe at full-stretch.

Bundesliga debutant Marius Stankevicius had enjoyed more touches of the ball than any of his Hannover team-mates before half time, but the Lithuanian was found wanting early in the second period as Sven Bender's cross was allowed to travel right across the box and to the feet of Reus. He had time to pick his spot, but Zieler was quick to narrow the angle and the ball sailed wide.

Kiyotake special


Expectations were rising inside the Signal Iduna Park, but there was simply no beating Hannover's seemingly impregnable custodian, who pulled off another jaw-dropping save to foil the energetic Reus. As so often has been the case in recent weeks, Dortmund were made to pay for their profligacy as Kiyotake stepped up to bend a stunning free kick beyond the reach of Weidenfeller.

BVB could have fallen further behind were it not for a pair of fine saves from Weidenfeller to keep out goalscorer Kiyotake and summer signing Joselu, and while Hannover ended the contest with ten men after Gülselam collected his second booking of the afternoon for a foul on Reus, Klopp's side were unable to wrestle back the initiative.

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