By Derek Wilson, dpa
Berlin (dpa) – Borussia Dortmund closed the gap to Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich by coming from behind to defeat Augsburg 3-1 Sunday while Bayer Leverkusen moved sixth with a comfortable 2-0 win at VfB Stuttgart.
Dortmund trailed to Alfred Finnbogason’s 16th minute opener for Augsburg but levelled with a deflection from Henrikh Mkhitaryan before the break. Goals from Gonzalo Castro and Adrian Ramos then completed the comeback in the second half.
The victory moves second-placed Dortmund to within five of Bayern, who won 1-0 at Cologne Saturday, with seven games remaining this season. Augsburg are 15th and outside the bottom three on goal difference as they sit level on points with Hoffenheim and Eintracht Frankfurt.
Augsburg made a bright start against Dortmund and Caiuby stung the palms of keeper Roman Buerki in the opening minutes.
They snatched a deserved lead soon after when Caiuby was released on the left and his cross evaded Mats Hummels to give Finnbogason a simple tap-in at the back post.
Dortmund, without top scorer Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang due to a family bereavement, had offered little but came to life in the five minutes before the interval. Marco Reus was denied by Alex Manninger but this only delayed the equalizer as a deflection on Mkhitaryan’s poked shot deceived the keeper after fine build-up play.
«You need to have a perfect day against Dortmund,» said Augsburg’s Markus Feulner, who cited the deflected equalizer as the turning point in the match.
The visitors dominated the second half and substitute Adrian Ramos narrowly failed to turn in Mkhitaryan’s cross.
But Ramos did prove decisive as he controlled Hummels’ long ball into the path of Castro to lash home in the 69th minute and found the net on his own rebound following a corner with 15 minutes remaining.
«You could realize that the English week (of playing Europa League on
Thursday) cost us strength,» Castro said. «But we have deserved the victory.»
Keeper Buerki added: «We all stayed calm, nobody was nervous. That was key to winning. We came back and won comfortably.»
In Stuttgart, the home side were uninspired throughout and though they remain 11th, they are only five points clear of the play-off place.
«We have difficult games coming up,» Stuttgart sport director Robin Dutt said. «We have to be careful we won’t slip back down again.»
Leverkusen were immediately on top but needed a little luck to open the scoring as a minor deflection helped Julian Brandt’s shot past Przemyslaw Tyton after he was played in by Karim Bellarabi.
The keeper made brilliant saves to deny Brandt and Stefan Kiessling before Bernd Leno got down well at the other end to save Timo Werner’s 20 yard drive.
Straight after the break Leverkusen scored a fine second on the counter as Brandt returned the favour to find Bellarabi on the right of the box and he drilled a firm shot into the bottom corner.
«Under the circumstances with many injuries that was a top performance,» Leverkusen sport director Rudi Voeller said.
Brandt hit the post and Vladlen Yurchenko rattled the bar as Leverkusen threatened to turn their win into a rout of the hapless hosts.
