Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund on Friday faced a shock 2-1 loss at Augsburg, as forward Ji Dong-won scored twice to give champions Bayern Munich the chance to draw level at the top.
Dortmund, whose captain and top scorer Marco Reus returned after a month out through injury, are on 54 points, three ahead of Bayern, who were to travel to Borussia Moenchengladbach yesterday.
Dortmund had led the standings by seven points and their second league loss of the season came before next week’s Champions League round-of-16 second leg against Tottenham Hotspur following their 3-0 defeat in London last month.
Photo: AFP
The Ruhr valley club, who beat Bayer Leverkusen last week to end a five-game winless run in all competitions, struggled to reach the Augsburg box and the hard-working hosts took control.
Ji, who had signed for Dortmund in 2014, but left months later after failing to break into the senior team, stunned the visitors in the 24th minute when he shook off two defenders to fire in a cross after Dortmund defender Dan-Axel Zagadou had slipped.
Dortmund were toothless for much of the second half and went 2-0 down when Ji pounced on Achraf Hakimi’s mistake and beautifully chipped the ball past goalkeeper Roman Buerki in the 68th minute.
“We should have won the game today. The opponents rarely had shots on goal, but we still lost,” Dortmund coach Lucien Favre said. “I do not want to talk about the individual mistakes; I will have to watch the game again. It was an unnecessary defeat.”
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