BVB earned a flattering 1-1 draw at Bayer Leverkusen, but were left frustrated by a late equalizer.

Gregor Kobel raised his arm again to be on the safe side, perhaps hoping that luck would be on Borussia Dortmund’s side once more. But this time it wasn’t to be, as Bayer Leverkusen finally found the back of the net after 79 minutes of pressure, with Victor Boniface scoring the equalizer. And that’s how it stayed, which was a flattering result for Dortmund.

They were clearly behind in all the usual statistics: possession, corners, shots on goal – only in the decisive category, the number of goals, were they on par, which they had earned through a lot of fighting spirit. And so they prevented the league leaders from pulling away with a 13-point lead – but slipped to fifth place in the table due to the late equalizer.

BVB had come up with a nice underdog tactic against the league leaders: sit deep, counterattack, play long balls, man-mark Bayer’s creative players Florian Wirtz and Jonas Hofmann, and add to that time-wasting and the odd niggly foul. This allowed them to match the feared pace of the Bayer team for long periods of the game.

And it suited the visitors perfectly that their first of few constructive attacks was immediately successful: Sabitzer artistically flicked the ball on to Füllkrug, who held it up well with his back to goal and laid it off to the onrushing Julian Ryerson, who slotted home from close range (5′).

This did little to change the static nature of the game, which continued to be dominated by Leverkusen, who initially posed a threat with long-range shots: Exequiel Palacios (7th minute) and Granit Xhaka (14th minute) shot too centrally, and although the stadium erupted in cheers when Xhaka had a second attempt, the ball flew just inches past the wrong side of the post (21st minute).

The hosts rarely posed a threat in the penalty area because center backs Mats Hummels and Nico Schlotterbeck cleared the ball well, while Emre Can and Marcel Sabitzer defended so deep that the back four often became a back six. When in possession, however, Dortmund were too sloppy and rarely managed to break out of the league leaders’ intense pressing. Leverkusen, on the other hand, impressed with their combinations in tight spaces, but occasionally lost their way in their passing sequences instead of looking for the finish.

And yet they continued to close in: Wirtz lifted the ball nicely over the onrushing Hummels in the penalty area, but then failed to find Hofmann, who had made the run (24). Jonathan Tah, unmarked at the far post, missed the ball after a corner (27). Alejandro Grimaldo’s free kick from 25 meters was saved by Gregor Kobel (31). And when Leverkusen finally had something to cheer about after a cross found its way to Wirtz, who finished with a well-placed shot, the video assistant came to Dortmund’s rescue: striker Victor Boniface had been marginally offside in the build-up to the goal (45+1).