Unbeaten Dortmund go second with 4-2 comeback win over Union

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Dortmund come alive in second half to beat Union Berlin

Nico Schlotterbeck, Julian Brandt and Julian Ryerson all score in the second half to propel Dortmund past Union Berlin.

Updated: Oct 7, 2023, 06:09 pm

Borussia Dortmund scored twice in five second-half minutes to come from a goal behind and beat visitors Union Berlin 4-2 on Saturday to climb to second place in the Bundesliga table.

Unbeaten so far this season, Dortmund are on 17 points from seven matches, one behind leaders VfB Stuttgart, who beat VfL Wolfsburg 3-1 with a Serhou Guirassy hat-trick to take over top spot for the time being.

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Bayer Leverkusen, on 16, are in action on Sunday against Cologne. Champions Bayern Munich, on 14 points, host Freiburg on Sunday.

In a topsy turvy first half Dortmund took a seventh minute lead with Germany forward Niclas Füllkrug poking the ball in from close range on the rebound after his header was saved.

Julian Brandt scored his second Bundesliga goal of the season in the comeback victory.
Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images

The hosts' fans hardly had any time to celebrate, however, as Fuellkrug deflected a Robin Gosens header into his own net two minutes later.

Both teams had a goal disallowed before Union, who have now lost seven consecutive matches across all competitions, turned the game around, scoring with a 31st minute penalty through Leonardo Bonucci.

Dortmund coach Edin Terzic decided to switch to a three-man defence after the break and brought on Julian Brandt for Jamie-Bynoe Gittens, and the move paid off instantly.

Defender Nico Schlotterbeck found enough space to move forward and he unleashed an unstoppable shot into the top corner four minutes after the restart.

The comeback was complete in the 54th when Marco Reus launched a counterattack and laid the ball off for substitute Brandt, who had no trouble beating keeper Frederik Ronnow to make it 3-2.

Julian Ryerson's 71st minute shot then took a wicked deflection from Gosens to put the game to bed and stretch Dortmund's unbeaten run in the Bundesliga to 15 consecutive matches.

"We had a bizarre first half with a lot of VARs and goals from set pieces and disallowed goals from set pieces," said Dortmund defender Mats Hummels, who on Friday earned a Germany callup after more than two years.

"[After the break] from the very first second we believed in it, the fans joined in and it turned into a wonderful second half. We did it really well and we can be really proud of it"