Borussia Dortmund’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang struck twice against SV Darmstadt 98 on Sunday to become the only player in Bundesliga history to score in the first seven matches of the season, but a late Aytac Sulu goal spoiled his afternoon as the visitors rescued a 2-2 draw.
Gabon international Aubameyang drilled in from close range in the 63rd minute to cancel out an early Marcel Heller goal for the visitors and quickly added another eight minutes later to take his season’s tally to nine, but a 90th-minute equalizer from Sulu after Dortmund failed to clear the ball from the penalty area stunned the 80,000 crowd in the Signal Iduna Park, with Dortmund having now failed to win their past two matches after kicking off the season with five consecutive victories.
The Ruhr valley club have 17 points, four points behind leaders Bayern Munich and one ahead of third-placed Schalke 04.
Photo: Reuters
Bayern and Dortmund meet in a mouthwatering derby next week, when Aubameyang will be up against Bayern’s in-form striker Robert Lewandowski, who has netted seven goals in his past two matches and 10 in the league so far.
In Sunday’s other match, Eintracht Frankfurt forward Alexander Meier scored his fourth goal of the season, but it was not enough to beat Hertha BSC, who snatched a late 1-1 draw.
The 32-year-old Meier, last season’s Bundesliga top scorer, came back from injury two weeks ago, scoring a hat-trick in the win over Cologne after having knee surgery in April.
His 22nd-minute close-range effort put the hosts ahead with their first goal in three matches.
They came close to scoring another when Marc Stendera rattled the bar with a long-range missile after Hertha had also hit the woodwork early in the game.
Eintracht kept up the pressure in the second half and substitute Luc Castaignos should have done much better, but he fired wildly over the bar from close range after chasing down a deep cross.
They were punished for failing to convert their chances when Vladimir Darida benefited from a deflection near the penalty area in the 82nd minute to charge through and slot past goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky with Hertha’s first chance of the second half.
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