Borussia Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel appeared to throw in the towel in the Bundesliga title race after his side drew 2-2 at Schalke 04 in the Ruhr derby on Sunday, leaving leaders Bayern Munich seven points clear.
A gem from Shinja Kagawa and an unusual goal from Matthias Ginter put Dortmund ahead twice, but the hosts hit back through Leroy Sane and a Klaas-Jan Huntelaar penalty.
With only five matches to play, Bayern are closing in on a fourth successive title after their 3-1 win at VfB Stuttgart on Saturday.
Photo: AP
Schalke, who restored some pride after the previous weekend’s 3-0 defeat at Ingolstadt 04, are in seventh place, behind Borussia Moenchengladbach and FSV Mainz 05 on goal-difference.
However, their chances of qualifying for the UEFA Champions League were dented when Bayer 04 Leverkusen won 2-0 at Cologne to go three points ahead of them in fourth place.
“It is a very realistic scenario that Bayern will become champions. I don’t know if the big comeback is really still on,” Tuchel told Sky Sport Deutschland in a matter-of-fact tone. “Of course, we were playing our 48th competitive match of the season and we are close to our physical limit.”
Tuchel made eight changes to the lineup that drew 1-1 with Liverpool in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday last week as he rotated his side.
There was little excitement in the first half, but the game sprang into life after the break.
Dortmund struck first in the 49th minute when Moritz Leitner back-heeled the ball into the path of Kagawa and the Japanese midfielder dinked the ball over Ralf Faehrmann from the edge of the penalty area.
Sane leveled the match two minutes later, firing home the rebound after Roman Buerki parried the ball invitingly into his path, but the game quickly took another twist.
Henrik Mkhitaryan’s free-kick hit a Schalke defender and looped into the penalty area, the home defense was wrong-footed and Ginter, in between two defenders, was left unchallenged to head Dortmund’s second.
Huntelaar leveled again when the Dutchman won and converted a penalty in the 65th minute after he was shoved over by Sokratis Papastathopoulos.
Both teams then had chances to win the game in a frantic finale.
“We were twice in the lead and gave the goals away a little too easily, then we had three chances to win the game, but I have no complaints,” Tuchel said.
Julian Brandt and Javier Hernandez scored in a five-minute spell just before halftime for Leverkusen at neighbors Cologne, and there was a stormy end as Leonardo Bittencourt for the hosts and Wendell for the visitors were both sent off in stoppage-time.
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