Borussia Dortmund conceded two goals in three minutes and slumped to a 3-2 loss at Cologne on Saturday, missing their chance to go to the top of the Bundesliga table. The visitors, who face Sevilla in the Champions League on Wednesday, were in complete control in the first half and squandered a bagful of chances through Donyell Malen and Karim Adeyemi before Julian Brandt slotted in for the lead in the 31st minute.
They eased off, however, after the break allowing Cologne too much space to come forward. The hosts were rewarded with an equalizer from Florian Kainz who turned a cutback from Linton Maina into the Dortmund goal in the 53rd. Before Dortmund had any time to recover, Cologne struck again three minutes later with former Dortmund player Steffen Tigges beating Nico Schlotterbeck at the near post to score with a glancing header and turn the game around.
Florian Dietz hit the woodwork a little later as Cologne kept the pressure on, and they got a third goal in the 71st when Dejan Ljubicic was given too much space by a struggling Dortmund backline and curled a superb shot into the far corner. Dortmund teenager Tom Rothe threw his team a lifeline when his cross took a deflection off Cologne’s Benno Schmitz to land in the back of the net and set up a nervous finale, but they could not find an equalizer.
The result saw Dortmund drop to fourth place on 15 points, two behind leaders Union Berlin, who lost 2-0 at Eintracht Frankfurt, and Freiburg, winners 2-1 over Mainz 05. Champions Bayern Munich, who crushed Bayer Leverkusen 4-0 on Friday for their first win in five league games, are also on 15 in third place.
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