Hosts Borussia Moenchengladbach stunned 10-man Borussia Dortmund 1-0 with a goal from Denis Zakaria on Saturday to snap their opponents’ three-game winning run in the Bundesliga.
Borussia Dortmund, playing without injured captain Marco Reus and top striker Erling Haaland, therefore suffered their second loss of the season.
They dropped to fourth place on 12 points, four off leaders Bayern Munich as Gladbach notched up their second victory in six games.
Haaland, who has scored 47 goals in 48 league games for Borussia Dortmund, was ruled out earlier on Saturday after picking up an injury in Friday’s final training.
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Zakaria struck in the 37th minute after charging into the penalty box, getting a lucky deflection to keep possession and then slotting in for the lead.
Things got worse for Borussia Dortmund, who host Sporting Lisbon in the UEFA Champions League next week, three minutes later.
That was when Mo Dahoud got his marching orders, following a second booking, putting his team firmly on the back foot and leaving defender Mats Hummels fuming.
“It is dumb to give the referee the chance (to send him off),” Hummels said of Dahoud’s dissent that triggered a second booking following a foul. “I hope Mo knows that what he did was wrong.
“It is wrong to send him off but you should not even give the referee the chance to do it.”
The hosts had a string of good chances in the second half on a frustrating return to Gladbach for Borussia Dortmund coach Marco Rose.
He had coached the Foals for two years but left this season to join the Ruhr valley club.
The home fans gave him a fiery welcome, with jeers and whistles, after he had angered them by announcing his departure midway through last season with the team then missing out on the European spots.
Rose’s team, without Haaland and Reus in attack, did not manage a single effort on goal over 90 minutes.
They dropped to fourth, one point behind third-placed VfL Wolfsburg, who lost 3-1 at Hoffenheim, and Bayer Leverkusen.
Borussia Moenchengladbach move up to 11th on seven points.(Reuters/NAN)