Borussia Dortmund is in a near dead heat with Bayern Munich, Lucien Favre’s men trying to dethrone Bayern Munich, which has won the last six Bundesliga titles.
Archrival Schalke may have derailed BVB’s title hopes on Saturday after two identically boneheaded tackles by Dortmund players saw the home side reduced to nine men before suffering a 4-2 defeat at Signal Iduna Park.
The Revierderby is one of the most heated rivalries in Europe and Saturday’s match was another example of why. Despite 42 points separating the two sides heading into the match, it was the club flirting with relegation that proved to be the better side on the day.
The loss left Dortmund a point behind Bayern, which plays Nurnberg on Sunday while Schalke moved nine points ahead of Stuttgart in 16th place in the relegation zone.
The match actually started wonderfully for Dortmund. Jadon Sancho assisted Mario Götze on the opening goal in the 14th minute, giving the 19-year-old England international his 14th assist of the season.
14 - Jadon Sancho has assisted 14 Bundesliga goals this season, the most by an English player in one of Europe's big five leagues since Frank Lampard also assisted 14 in the Premier League in 2009-10. Superstar. pic.twitter.com/mEX9M6cysm
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) April 27, 2019
During the goal celebrations, Sancho was struck in the eye by what appeared to be a lighter thrown by a Schalke fan. He received medical treatment and returned to the match, but Schalke soon struck back on the pitch.
Moments after Dortmund went ahead, Schalke was awarded (via VAR) a penalty kick for a hand ball in the box. Daniel Caligiuri made no mistake with his finish and 10 minutes later Salif Sané put Schalke in front 2-1 with a header off a corner kick.
It was 2-1 at halftime and Dortmund was still in it — who could forget Schalke’s remarkable comeback from down 4-0 to draw 4-4 last season? — but the home side lost the plot in the second half.
First, Marco Reus raked the back of Suat Serdar’s ankle and was given a straight red, with no use of VAR necessary.
Dortmund fans would disagree, but there can be no argument with the decision.
On the ensuing free kick, Caligiuri made it 3-1 with this magnificent free kick.
Five minutes after Reus was sent off, Marius Wolf made a similar but worse tackle — again on Serdar, poor guy — to get himself kicked out of the match and reduce Dortmund to nine men.
You get a red, and you get a red... #SchalkeUS#BVBS04 1-3
— Schalke 04 USA (@s04_us) April 27, 2019
Christian Pulisic was just getting ready to come into the match when Wolf was sent off and had to wait until the 78th minute to replace Raphaël Guerreiro, a minute after fellow American Weston McKennie was subbed off by Schalke.
Despite going down to nine men, Dortmund was able to regroup a bit and pull within 3-2 in the 84th minute through Axel Witsel, giving the home side brief hope of a comeback.
But just as soon as the hope arrived it was dashed by Breel Embolo.
A minute after Witsel’s goal, Embolo put the game to rest with a well-placed strike.
The defeat is devastating to Borussia Dortmund’s title hopes as BVB now needs Bayern Munich to drop points in at least two of its final four matches.
But Schalke fans will be absolutely loving it.
Mood #SchalkeUS #BVBS04 2-4 pic.twitter.com/CVAM3cJH3N
— Schalke 04 USA (@s04_us) April 27, 2019
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