BVB took advantage of FC Bayern in Mainz to banish the away curse:

Borussia Dortmund have shot themselves back into the hunters’ circle in the title race. Coach Edin Terzic’s team took advantage of Munich’s slip-up against Cologne (1-1) with a hard-fought 2-1 (1-1) win at FSV Mainz 05 to close the gap on the Bundesliga leaders to five points at the end of the first half of the season.

Without their leader Jude Bellingham, who was suspended with a yellow card, Dortmund lacked penetrating power for a long time. Julian Ryerson (4th) with his first goal and wild card Giovanni Reyna (90.+3) with the late winner on Sebastien Haller’s assist brought BVB back into contention after Jae-Sung Lee (2nd) had scored early for Mainz. It was only the second away win from the past seven games for Borussia.

Terzic made two changes compared to the wild exchange against FC Augsburg (4:3). Niklas Süle replaced Mats Hummels as captain in the recently very unsafe defence, Emre Can replaced Bellingham. While Haller was again on the bench after his emotional debut, the game came too soon for Marco Reus, who had recently fallen ill.

In addition, the game started with an early shock for BVB, as Lee gave Mainz the lead with his very first finish. As negligent as Karim Adeyemi and Ryerson had defended at the corner, Dortmund’s reaction was strong. The answer? A deflected Ryerson shot from distance to equalise.

After a shaky start, the Black and Yellows quickly stabilised. The Mainz team, with regular goalkeeper Robin Zentner (back problems) absent once again and defensive newcomer Andreas Hache-Olsen making his debut, stifled Dortmund’s switching game and created good chances through Youssoufa Moukoko (8th), Süle (9th) and Adeyemi (14th).

However, the Borussians did not keep up the pressure for long. Dortmund lacked ideas in a tough game, and the defence was once again shaky. However, unlike in recent games, this was not punished against the harmless hosts.

Süle and Co. allowed much more to happen after the break. BVB were too passive and were lucky with Karim Onisiwo (57th) and Marcus Ingvartsen (60th). Terzic reacted: Haller was joined by Giovanni Reyna and Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, who was too imprecise with his best chance (68th). It was only in the final phase that BVB pressed harder and were rewarded late on. Haller headed a corner to Reyna, who had already scored the winner against Augsburg.