Borussia Dortmund missed the chance to close the gap on Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich after a shock 3-1 defeat at Hamburg on Friday night.
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Goals from Pierre-Michel Lasogga, Lewis Holtby and an own goal from Mats Hummels were enough to hand the hosts a surprise victory at the Volksparkstadion, as Die Borussen were defeated for only the second time this season in the Bundesliga.
Hamburg coach Bruno Labbadia was delighted with his team’s performance.
“We didn’t let them come too far forward and we stayed true to our tactics”.
The midfielder was again in the thick of things moments later as Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Buerki floored Ilicevic inside the box, allowing Lasogga to break the deadlock with a well placed shot from the penalty spot. “That is the worst game we have played this year – we will have to see where to improve”, he said.
But whether the weekend’s Bundesliga programme should take place at all has been debated after Tuesday’s Germany-Netherlands friendly in Hanover was called off due to a bomb scare, further shaking German football.
The German national team were forced to spend the night at the Stade de France on Friday as Paris suffered a series of apparently coordinated terrorist attacks during their friendly against Didier Deschamps’ side.
There will be a minute’s silence before kick-off at all Bundesliga grounds to remember the victims of the Paris attacks which killed 129 people.
Things got even better for Hamburg four minutes before halftime.
– After Bayern Munich (37 goals), Dortmund boast the second-best attack in the league (35) and only notched up more goals in the opening 12 games in the 1963-64 season (39).
By half-time, Hamburg were 2-0 ahead when Nicolai Mueller broke away from his markers before finding Holtby who scored past Burki in the left-hand corner.
But their chances evaporated in the 70th minute when Germany defender Hummels inadvertently diverted the ball into his own net.
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A consolation goal arrived for Dortmund when Mkhitaryan linked up nicely with substitute Adnan Januzaj and the on-loan Manchester United playmaker fed Aubameyang, who slotted past Adler.
