Dortmund held to 4-4 home draw by Stuttgart
Reuters - Friday 30 March 2012, 21:37
Bundesliga leaders Borussia
Dortmund were held to a 4-4 draw after a last-gasp goal by VfB
Stuttgart's Christian Gentner in a thrilling match on Friday
that put the home side six points clear at the top.
Gentner scored in stoppage time at the end of a stunning
game that saw Dortmund lead 2-0 before Stuttgart scored three
goals in nine minutes in the second half.
The result lifted Dortmund, unbeaten for 22 straight games,
to 63 points from 28 games, six ahead of Bayern Munich who can
close in with a victory at Nuremberg on Saturday.
Stuttgart are in fifth place on 40.
Dortmund have only themselves to blame for not sealing a win
after dominating for more than an hour, having twice hit the
woodwork and with Kevin Grosskreutz and Lukasz Piszcek wasting
half a dozen clear chances.
"That was a crazy game," said Dortmund coach Juergen Klopp.
"I have never been part of a game with such a change in score."
"After leading 2-0 we lost our focus and Stuttgart fought
really well. I am satisfied with the draw because at some point
we were already out of the game," he told reporters.
EARLY LEAD
Goals from Japan international Shinji Kagawa in the 33rd and
Jakub Blaszczykowski after the restart had given Dortmund a 2-0
lead and they looked to be cruising to an easy victory.
Stuttgart raced back into the contest after 70 minutes to
lead 3-2 through Vedad Ibisevic and a Julian Schieber double as
Dortmund's defence short-circuited in the last 20 minutes.
Mats Hummels levelled in the 82nd with a sizzling drive and
substitute Ivan Perisic thought he had snatched the winner with
a fine volley in the 87th as the 80,720 capacity crowd started
celebrating what would have been an 11th win in 12 games.
However, substitute Gentner rescued a deserved draw for the
visitors who are now unbeaten in their last six league matches.
"For such a great game it is worth being a coach," said
Stuttgart's Bruno Labbadia. "It was good to see how the team
never gave up despite trailing 2-0 at the champions."