Arsenal loanee Ethan Nwaneri’s late own goal proved decisive as Borussia Dortmund came from two goals down to beat Hoffenheim 3-2 in the Bundesliga on Saturday.
Hoffenheim were the better team for the opening hour but lost their way as Dortmund clicked into gear and romped to victory with three goals in the final 30 minutes.
“I liked what I saw,” Dortmund coach Niko Kovac said of Nwaneri. “That’s what we brought him in for… Maybe it wasn’t officially his goal, but he created it.”
“The team played all or nothing football,” Kovac added. “And when you have to go all or nothing, the opponent has to try and keep up and the gaps start opening up.”
Hoffenheim were two up with 54 minutes played thanks to goals from Leon Avdullahu and Tim Lemperle.
Nwaneri, the youngest player in Premier League history, arrived on a season-long loan from Arsenal on deadline day and came on with half an hour played.
Striker Serhou Guirassy gave the hosts hope when he scored just after the hour mark and then set up Fabio Silva five minutes later.
With just four minutes of regular time remaining, Nwaneri cut down the left and shot centrally, but his effort took a big deflection off home defender Albian Hajdari and ended up in the net.
Bundesliga newcomers Elversberg continued their excellent top-flight arrival with a 4-3 win at Borussia Moenchengladbach, making it two wins from two this season.
Gladbach took the lead twice and were 3-1 up midway through the second-half, but Elversberg fought back despite losing manager Vincent Wagner to a second yellow card just before the break.
With 10 minutes left, Felix Keidel levelled the scores at 3-3 and Maurice Krattenmacher put the visitors in front in stoppage time with his second goal of the match.
Elversberg, with a population of just 13,000, are the smallest town ever to have a German top-flight side but opened the season with a shock 3-2 win over Bayer Leverkusen last week.
Leverkusen rebounded from that disappointment by putting sorry Union Berlin to the sword in a 4-0 home victory.
Argentina internationals Equi Fernandez and Facundo Medina had Leverkusen 2-0 up at half-time.
England centre-back Jarell Quansah set up Patrik Schick for Leverkusen’s third before Ibrahim Maza added a stylish fourth late on.
Elsewhere, West Ham loanee Niclas Fuellkrug scored his second goal in three games since returning to Germany to help Werder Bremen win 3-1 at home to RB Leipzig.
The German striker scored a long-range header, with Eren Dinkci and Marco Gruell also getting on the scoresheet.
Europa League finalists Freiburg continued their perfect start to the season with a solid 1-0 win away at promoted Paderborn.
AFP
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