Marco Richter scored twice as host Hertha Berlin took a shocking 3-2 victory over second-seeded Borussia Dortmund on Saturday, leaving Bayern Munich nine points clear of the Bundesliga cup. Julian Brandt gave Dortmund a lead in the first half, but Hertha roared back with three unanswered goals at the Berlin Olympic Stadium as Ishak Belfodil equalized before Richter scored twice. Dortmund substitute Steffen Tigges withdrew one shortly after replacing Brandt, but the visitors are entering the winter break after having won just once in their last four league games.
“We gave the game away,” Dortmund goalkeeper Marwin Hitz admitted.
“We didn’t do anything in the 20 minutes after the break and only after that we were back in,” he added.
Bayern defeated Wolfsburg 4-0 on Friday to start the new year as overwhelming favorites for a 10th consecutive Bundesliga title.
Just four days after the 4-0 defeat to Mainz in the middle of the table, Hertha was in charge of Dortmund and Erling Haaland kept crucial silence after the Norwegian scored four goals in a 5-2 romp in the same match last season.
Haaland barely had one shot on target and showed his frustration at Dortmund’s poor performance as Hertha fought hard from the first whistle.
Striker Myziane Maolida tapped an early shot past Hitz, but the goal was disallowed with Belfodil marginally offside.
Dortmund took the lead when Haaland saw a run-up from Brandt, who hooked up in half an hour.
At halftime it remained 1-0, but Hertha expressed their authority within six minutes with two goals.
Belfodil defeated Axel Witsel and shoved his shot under Hitz to claim his first Bundesliga goal in three years.
Moments later, Brandt lost possession and Maolida laid it off to his right for Richter to hammer in.
He then took his second after falling behind the defense after Brandt’s loose pass before Tigges gave Dortmund late hope.
– Eintracht wins again –
Earlier, Eintracht Frankfurt continued their rise on the table with a sixth win in seven games as Danish forward Jesper Lindstrom scored for the third consecutive game to seal a 1-0 win over Mainz.
Frankfurt broke into the top five after starting twelfth last weekend, when Lindstrom added to the goals he scored last week in wins against Moenchengladbach and Leverkusen.
As Rafael Borre snuck behind the defence, the Colombian striker shot the onrushing goalkeeper right into Lindstrom’s path, who tagged in the winner in the 35th minute.
The clubs passed each other in the table while Mainz dropped to eighth place.
Union Berlin finished sixth – level with Frankfurt on 27 points – thanks to former Germany striker Max Kruse, who scored the only goal in a 1-0 win over Bochum two days after getting married.
Fourth-seeded Hoffenheim took a 1-1 draw at home against Borussia Moenchengladbach after defender Kevin Akpoguma tied the score.
Gladbach, who had lost the previous four league games, took a lead in the first half when Swiss striker Breel Embolo scored from close range.
Domenico Tedesco suffered his first loss in three games as coach of RB Leipzig, who lost 2-0 at home to 10-man Arminia Bielefeld.
After attacker Janni Serra put the visitors 1-0 up, Bielefeld substitute Fabian Klos was shown a red card for a foul on Leipzig defender Willi Orban shortly after coming on.
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Despite being one man behind, Bielefeld took the win when Japanese midfielder Masaya Okugawa hit the bottom corner with 15 minutes to go.
Greuther Fuerth is now 11 points adrift at the foot of the table after their goalless draw at home to Augsburg.
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