Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored twice for Borussia Dortmund to beat promoted Ingolstadt 04 2-0 and provisionally cut the gap on Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich to five points on Saturday.
Bayern were due to host TSG 1899 Hoffenheim yesterday.
Aubameyang broke the deadlock with a header in the 77th minute and secured the win with his league-leading 20th goal of the season four minutes from time.
Photo: Reuters
“On such days you’re happy about a dirty win. We were lucky in many situations today,” Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel said.
Dortmund struggled without Marco Reus and Ilkay Gundogan — ruled out with viral infections — and they needed Lukasz Piszczek to clear off the line after Dario Leczano held off Mats Hummels and lobbed goalkeeper Roman Buerki in the first half.
The hosts were fortunate not to fall behind to a Hummels own-goal in the second half, when referee Guido Winkmann gave a free-kick to the Dortmund captain for a foul by Leczano.
Dortmund increased the pressure and Piszczek crossed for Aubameyang to score, albeit from an offside position, before Gonzalo Castro played him through to settle it.
Elsewhere on Saturday, Javier Hernandez also scored twice as Bayer 04 Leverkusen defeated bottom side Hannover 96 3-0, Hertha BSC drew 3-3 at Werder Bremen to consolidate third place, Schalke 04 won at promoted SV Darmstadt 98 2-0, while Augsburg and Eintracht Frankfurt played out a scoreless draw.
Artem Kravets scored late for VfB Stuttgart to come from behind and beat visiting Hamburg SV 2-1 in the late game for their third straight win.
Stefan Kiessling opened the scoring for Leverkusen before halftime, then Hernandez added a penalty afterward. Hernandez racked his 13th league goal of the season late as Leverkusen moved two points above Borussia Moenchengladbach into fourth place. Moenchengladbach lost 1-0 at FSV Mainz 05 on Friday.
It was Thomas Schaaf’s second defeat in his second game as Hannover coach.
“We played better than we did against Darmstadt,” Schaaf said referring to his first match in charge. “The problem is that we didn’t know what to do with the ball when we had it.”
Veteran striker Claudio Pizarro scored twice for Bremen to claim a point and consolidate the relegation playoff place.
“It was very difficult to come back again. To have achieved it is a very important sign in the relegation battle,” Bremen sporting director Thomas Eichin said.
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