Borussia Dortmund 3 Fortuna Dusseldorf 2: Favre´s men keep title hopes alive

Thomas Delaney and Mario Gotze were Borussia Dortmund’s heroes as they beat 10-man Fortuna Dusseldorf 3-2 to keep their hopes of snatching the Bundesliga title away from Bayern Munich alive going into the final day of the season.

Delaney provided an assist for Christian Pulisic to give Dortmund the lead and, following Oliver Fink’s equaliser courtesy of a Marwin Hitz howler, restored their advantage before Mario Gotze poached a third.

Dusseldorf midfielder Adam Bodzek was sent off and Dawid Kownacki pulled one back late on as Dortmund edged a result which, coupled with Bayern’s goalless draw with RB Leipzig, ensures the title race goes down to the wire with Dortmund two points behind their bitter rivals ahead of their last day trip to Borussia Monchengladbach.

A point should be enough for Bayern to clinch the title as they take on Eintracht Frankfurt at home, but Dortmund look determined to give themselves every chance of capitalising if the champions slip up.

FULL TIME | Three points!!

A picture perfect end to Christian Pulisic’s final home match!#BVBF95 3-2 pic.twitter.com/GY17ioNMhJ

— Borussia Dortmund (@BlackYellow) May 11, 2019

Pulisic dragged a shot wide after 12 minutes at Signal Iduna-Park before Dodi Lukebakio had a brilliant solo effort ruled out for offside.

The breakthrough arrived when Delaney nodded Raphael Guerreiro’s looping cross back across the face of goal and Pulisic flung himself at the ball to beat Michael Rensing with a diving header.

Dortmund looked in control until Hitz, making only his second Bundesliga appearance of the season, allowed Fink’s tame close-range header to slip through his hands and squirm between his legs two minutes after the restart.

The hosts’ crisp passing helped them reassume command six minutes later, Delaney drilling home from 12 yards at the second time of asking as the ball pinged around the Dusseldorf box.

Lukebakio won a penalty when Hitz and Manuel Akanji sandwiched him in the air, but the Belgian forward staggered his run-up to the spot-kick and shot wide to the right of the target.

Dusseldorf threatened an equaliser until Bodzek was given a straight red card for a dreadful challenge on substitute Jadon Sancho, with Gotze quickly capitailsing on Dortmund’s numerical advantage with a raking shot that wrong-footed Rensing.

Kownacki showed superb technique when he controlled a chipped ball into the box on his thigh and sent a volley bouncing into the net but a comeback proved beyond the visitors.