Dortmund drop more points with draw at Frankfurt

BERLIN — With their star striker Erling Braut Haaland sidelined by injury, Borussia Dortmund dropped more Bundesliga points on Saturday when they laboured to a 1-1 draw at Eintracht Frankfurt.

The draw leaves Dortmund third in the table, three points behind leaders Bayern Munich who host second-placed RB Leipzig later on Saturday.

After suffering a shock 2-1 home defeat last weekend against struggling Cologne, Dortmund missed the finishing of top scorer Haaland, who is out until January.

Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Burki admitted the team struggled to gel, especially with several players back from injury, such as defender Dan-Axel Zagadou, who made his first start since March.

“We have a lot of games, so we had a few players on the pitch who had been injured. We struggled to find our rhythm,” said Burki.

“We weren’t bad after the break and could have won with a bit of luck.”

Dortmund’s defence was caught napping when they conceded an early goal by Frankfurt’s Japan midfielder Daichi Kamada.

The introduction of 16-year-old striker Youssoufa Moukoko after the half-time saw Dortmund raise their tempo.

They equalised with a superb strike from 18-year-old US forward Giovanni Reyna but failed to again breach the Frankfurt defence despite finishing the stronger.

Gladbach draw in Real warm-up 

Borussia Moenchengladbach warmed up for Wednesday’s crunch Champions League match at Real Madrid, with a last 16 place at stake, by drawing 2-2 draw at Freiburg, where they have not won since 2002.

“We had the chances to make it 3-2, but unfortunately didn’t take them,” said Gladbach goalscorer Breel Embolo.

“In the end, it was a fair draw.”

Gladbach went ahead when Embolo netted with an excellent first-time shot on 23 minutes.

Freiburg equalised with a header by defender Philipp Lienhart and then took the lead just after the break when Vincenzo Grifo converted a penalty.

Gladbach levelled when Alassane Plea hit the top corner of the net with a wonderful curling shot on 50 minutes.

Freiburg striker Nils Petersen squandered a golden chance in the final five minutes by firing over with the goal at his mercy.

The result leaves Freiburg 14th, a point from the bottom three, while Gladbach are seventh, six points behind Bayern.

Having ended their 18-match winless run by shocking Dortmund 2-1 last weekend, Cologne backed it up with a 2-2 draw at home with Wolfsburg to climb to 15th.

Cologne’s 18-year-old striker Jan Thielmann showed great composure to fire in their opening goal before Maximilian Arnold equalised with a superb free-kick.

Winger Ondrej Duda restored Cologne’s lead when he shot into the corner on 43 minutes.

However, Wolfsburg striker Wout Weghorst rescued a point away from home with a close-range header just after the break.

Cologne are only out of the relegation places on goal difference while Wolfsburg are fifth.

Arminia Bielefeld earned their first win since September with a 2-1 victory at Mainz, although both clubs remain in the bottom three.

Japan midfielder Ritsu Doan and Manuel Prietl scored Bielefeld’s goals in a deserved win before Mainz replacement Kevin Stoeger netted their late consolation.

Sixth-placed Union expect to be without in-form striker Max Kruse for the foreseeable future after the 32-year-old injured his hamstring in Friday’s 3-1 derby defeat at Hertha Berlin.