Stuttgart 2 Borussia Dortmund 1
Akolo makes it 1-0 from Burki error
Zieler produces saves
Philipp makes it 1-1
Brekalo secures the win
Match summary
The home side hit the front in the early going as a mistake from keeper Roman Burki presented Chadrac Akolo with an easy finish. Just before the interval, Andre Schurrle saw his penalty saved before Maximilian Philipp struck back to make it 1-1.
However, Josip Brekalo secured the victory in the second period as he finished well from Berkay Ozcan’s fine pass.
Match report
Dortmund were behind in the fifth minute as an error from Roman Burki led to the opening goal for Chadrac Akolo. When the goalkeeper failed to control Marc Bartra’s back pass, Akolo stole in to walk the ball into the net in a calamitous incident.
Moments later Andriy Yarmolenko nearly found an equaliser as he got on the end of Mario Gotze’s through ball, before firing a strike on target which Ron-Robert Zieler parried away. The visitors were not creating many openings and had to wait until after the half an hour mark to threaten again. Gotze found space and fired in a shot which Zieler once again produced a solid save.
Despite not showing a great threat in the final third in the opening stanza, the visitors hit back in stoppage time to restore parity. When Benjamin Pavard used his hand to block Gotze’s pass to Yarmolenko, a penalty was given. From the spot-kick, Andre Schurrle saw his shot saved before Maximilian Philipp struck home the rebound to make it 1-1.
After the break, Stuttgart made it 2-1 after a great finish from Josip Brekalo. The player was picked out by Berkay Ozcan who then finished with precision under the legs of Burki in the 51st minute. A few minutes later, Timo Baumgartl nearly made it 3-1 when he was in close proximity to the goal from a corner but failed to make it count.
BVB were grateful to Marc Bartra in the 65th minute as he poked away a tackle in the box from which Takuma Asano seemed set to score. The home side were inches away from a third soon after as Ozcan blazed over from Asano’s pull back.
Not long after the home side were fortunate as Zieler blocked Schurrle’s strike with his legs from Mahmoud Dahoud’s pass. Asano went close again in the closing stages as the Reds recorded the victory at the Mercedes-Benz-Arena.
