Berlin (dpa) – Borussia Dortmund squandered a lead twice as they were held 2-2 at arch-rivals Schalke on Sunday, a draw that all but ended their slim Bundesliga title chances as they slipped seven points behind leaders Bayern Munich.
Shinji Kagawa’s beautiful chip into the top left corner in the 49th and Matthias Ginter’s 56th-minute header put Dortmund ahead twice in the 88th Ruhr area league derby.
Schalke responded on each occasion from Leroy Sane in the 51st and a 65th-minute penalty from Klaas-Jan Huntelaar.
«The result is OK,» Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel told Sky TV. «We took a deserved lead twice but were a little careless to give it away again.
Tuchel then effectively ended the title race with five games left,
saying: «It is very realistic that Bayern Munich will become champions … I am not really sure whether we can stage a big catch-up effort.»
Munich, 3-1 winners at lowly VfB Stuttgart Saturday, have 75 points as they close in on a record fourth straight Bundesliga title.
Dortmund are on 68, and Hertha Berlin a distant third on 49.
Bayer Leverkusen improved to 48 points thanks to a fourth straight victory, 2-0 at 11th-placed Cologne in Sunday’s other derby which both sides ended with 10 men.
Schalke remained seventh but joined Borussia Moenchengladbach and Mainz on 45 points to keep their Champions League ambitions alive, and rebounding well from last week’s 3-0 meltdown at Ingolstadt.
Tuchel made eight changes to the Dortmund line-up that was held 1-1 by Juergen Klopp’s Liverpool in the Europa League quarter-finals, with the second leg at Anfield on Thursday.
Of the new faces, Moritz Leitner had a first shot blocked in the 21st as the game slowly came alive, and 17-year-old Christian Pulisic aimed inches wide left two minutes later.
Schalke’s first chance did not come until the 33rd when Sane rifled from long range against the outside right post.
Dortmund took the lead four minutes after the restart, with Leitner laying the ball back for Kagawa with a backheeler and the Japanese chipping over Ralf Faehrmann into the top left corner from the edge of the area.
Schalke responded just two minutes later when Sane smashed home from short range after Roman Buerki had saved a first attempt from Junior Caicara.
Dortmund went 2-1 up five minutes later when poor Schalke defending against a free-kick allowed Ginter an unmarked header, but the hosts fought back again in the 65th from Huntelaar’s spot kick after he was brought down by Sokratis.
Second-half substitute Henrikh Mkhitaryan came close for Dortmund in the 72nd but Schalke almost stole an injury-time winner from Max Meyer.
«We fought back twice. That was good. We showed a lot of passion and fighting spirit after the break,» Huntelaar said.
In Cologne, Germany forward Karim Bellarabi set up youngster Julian Brandt for the opener in the 39th and Javier Hernandez for his 16th goal of the season five minutes later as Leverkusen became the only European contender apart from Munich to win on the weekend.
Goalkeeper Bernd Leno preserved the lead after the break before Cologne’s Leonardo Bittencourt was shown a straight red and Leverkusen’s Wendell dismissed for a second bookable offence in a stoppage time melee.
«It was a great first half, and Bernd Leno saved well,» said Leverkusen sports director Rudi Voeller. «Now we must see that we can take advantage of this ‘golden round’ until the end.»
