Saturday in Bundesliga: Dortmund fold against 10-man Stuttgart, Bayern held
Borussia Dortmund failed to take advantage of Bayern Munich's 1-1 home draw against Hoffenheim on Saturday, conceding a last-gasp equalizer after blowing a two-goal lead against 10-man Stuttgart.
Bundesliga leaders Bayern led through a first-half goal from Benjamin Pavard but had to settle for a point as Hoffenheim equalized in the second half thanks to an Andrej Kramaric free-kick.
Dortmund were 2-0 ahead in Stuttgart when Konstantinos Mavropanos received a second yellow card, but the hosts hauled themselves level in a dramatic finish.
Gio Reyna fired Dortmund back in front three minutes into injury time, only for Stuttgart to snatch a 3-3 draw courtesy of Silas, who scored with virtually the last kick of the game.
The results left Bayern still two points clear of Dortmund at the top with six games to play.
Bayern came into their match after a tumultuous week, forward Leroy Sane sporting a visible mark on his upper lip after a confrontation with Sadio Mane, for which the latter was suspended.
Pavard gave his side an early lead, tapping in from close range after 17 minutes.
With Bayern in cruise control, coach Thomas Tuchel took off Sane, Leon Goretzka, and Kingsley Coman with Wednesday's return leg against Manchester City in mind.
Hoffenheim took the initiative and equalized after 71 minutes, Kramaric curling a perfect free-kick from well outside the box past Yann Sommer.
Tuchel said he was surprised with his side's lackluster response after being thrashed 3-0 by City.
"I thought we'd play with anger in the belly. That was not the case … We need a different spirit, and quickly."
Dortmund suffer costly collapse
In Stuttgart, Dortmund's Sebastien Haller opened the scoring midway through the first half, hammering in via the underside of the crossbar from a Donyell Malen cross.
Malen doubled the visitors' lead minutes later, gliding a low shot into the corner of the net, his fourth consecutive game with a goal.
Despite going a man down late in the first half when Mavropanos was sent off, Stuttgart continued to push forward.
Tanguy Coulibaly pulled one back for Stuttgart with 12 minutes to go against an increasingly nervous-looking Dortmund.
Stuttgart scored a second minutes later when Josha Vagnoman booted the ball home in a crowded penalty area to level the scores.
The drama wasn't over and Dortmund thought Reyna had won them the game, but Silas popped up with a 97th-minute equalizer to drag Stuttgart back out of the bottom two.
Dortmund coach Edin Terzic, who said "it was hard to find words," told reporters the result was worse than his side's early-season 3-2 home loss against Werder Bremen, where they led 2-0 with one minute remaining.
"We thought we'd already seen the stupidest thing this season after our late defeat against Bremen at home, but this tops everything.
"We missed a huge chance."
In Saturday's late game, Eintracht Frankfurt striker Randal Kolo Muani scored in the final 10 minutes to cancel out Jonas Hofmann's early goal, snatching a 1-1 draw for the home side against Borussia Monchengladbach.
The draw leaves the Europa League holders in seventh, one point outside the European spots, while Gladbach remained entrenched in mid-table.
Frankfurt are winless in their past seven matches, and captain Kevin Trapp said he had "no idea" where his side's early-season form had gone.
"We had many chances but only scored once. It's not enough to win."
Earlier, RB Leipzig kept their quest for Champions League football on track, coming from behind to beat Augsburg 3-2 at home thanks to a double from Timo Werner.
Leipzig won their first home match since early March, leapfrogging Union Berlin into third.
Elsewhere, Mainz drew 1-1 away at Cologne. Mainz took an early lead through Ludovic Ajorque, the French striker scoring his fourth goal in five league games, but Cologne hit back through Dejan Ljubicic.
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