On paper, Borussia Dortmund should have hammered Schalke but a 4-2 defeat has virtually ended their Bundesliga aspirations
If it was going to fall apart maybe it was always going to be here, now and in this way. This was a Revierderby that looked as if it might be Schalke’s worst nightmare in a season full of them. The distance between them and arch-rivals Borussia Dortmund was 42 points at kick-off, a gap that had never been as pronounced at this stage of a Bundesliga season before. This looked like a Saturday afternoon in Westfalen – where Dortmund had been yet to lose in the league this season – in which clichés about derbies and form books could be safely left at home.
And yet. A bruised team, mentally and physically, that even the legendary Huub Stevens has struggled to drag towards respectability, found a way to call the cops on Dortmund’s noisy party and to win 4-2. As the majority of Signal Iduna Park stood stunned at the final whistle, the home side had to face the fact that their title run seemed all but over. “Yes, obviously,” Dortmund’s manager Lucien Favre tersely replied when asked moments later.
Related: Bayern Munich escape with draw after Nürnberg’s late penalty miss
Augsburg 1-4 Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund 2-4 Schalke, Eintracht Frankfurt 0-0 Hertha Berlin, Fortuna Düsseldorf 4-1 Werder Bremen, Hannover 96 1-0 Mainz, RB Leipzig 2-1 SC Freiburg, Stuttgart 1-0 Borussia Möchengladbach, Hoffenheim 1-4 Wolfsburg, Nürnberg 1-1 Bayern Munich
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