In a scene typical of many between Hamburg and Dortmund, nothing was held back in the tackles, with Marco Reus (above) feeling the force of Nicolai Müller's challenge here
In a scene typical of many between Hamburg and Dortmund, nothing was held back in the tackles, with Marco Reus (above) feeling the force of Nicolai Müller's challenge here

Nothing to separate Hamburg and Dortmund

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Hamburg - Borussia Dortmund's four-game winning streak was brought to an end by a solid Hamburger SV side, who were good value for a goalless draw at the Imtech Arena.

Djourou's run ends

Chances were few and far between in a contest which was close and cagey, with the result in the end a fair reflection of proceedings.

With Marco Reus recovering from the thigh injury he picked up early on in Tuesday's DFB Cup win at Dynamo Dresden, Klopp needed to make just the one change to the side which won last weekend's Revierderby against FC Schalke 04, with Sven Bender in for Nuri Sahin. Hosts Hamburg welcomed Cléber Reis and Valon Behrami back into their starting XI for the first time in 2015.

Hamburg suffered a setback after only 10 minutes when Johan Djourou appeared to pull a muscle. He tried to continue, but his record of not yet having missed a single minute this season ended soon after, with Ronny Marcos coming into a new-look back four which was happy to see the action taking place at the other end, where Mohamed Gouaida first lifted a shot over from close range, before being denied by Roman Weidenfeller.

Goalkeepers on top


Hamburg's defence was then tested as Dortmund slowly started to get their game in gear, Reus inevitably at the centre of all the action and, understandably, receiving some close attention from Hamburg's rearguard. He did manage to play Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang through for Dortmund's best chance of the first half, which Jaroslav Drobny expertly turned behind.

Klopp tried to shake things up at the start of the second half with Kevin Kampl replacing Shinji Kagawa, but the first chance of the half came at the other end. Zoltan Stieber, who had scored in his last two games, curled in a free-kick which Weidenfeller pushed behind before it could creep inside the post.

Nailbiting conclusion


With Hamburg defending stoutly, even without Djourou, Dortmund were finding it increasingly difficult to find a way through. Klopp therefore threw the dice one last time, bringing both Ciro Immobile and Jakub Blaszczykowski on for the final 15 minutes, replacing Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

The Westphalians were able to build up a head of steam with the final five minutes played out right in front of Drobny's goal. With the fingernails of the home fans being bitten down to the bone, Immobile sent a cross to the far post after a succession of corners, but there were no takers as Hamburg cleared their lines, much to the relief of the sell-out home crowd.

Line-ups and statistics

Check out some of Dortmund's PlayStation-esque skills against Hamburg on the Bundesliga's official YouTube channel: