Paco Alcacer (C) of Dortmund leaves the court due to injury during a German Bundesliga match between Borussia Dortmund and SC Paderborn 07 in Dortmund, Germany, Nov. 22, 2019. (Photo by Joachim Bywaletz/Xinhua)
BERLIN, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Borussia Dortmund fought back from three goals down to 3-3 draw with last placed Paderborn at the opener of the 12th round in Bundesliga on Friday.
Marco Reus' last-gasp 3-3 equalizer helped Dortmund to secure one point on home soil against courageous Paderborn, who were unable to hold the pace in the second half.
Paderborn caught a perfect start on the road as Streli Mamba finished off a fast break after tapping home Kai Proger's square pass into the box following a Dortmund corner in the 5th minute.
Dortmund were shocked and Paderborn grew in confidence as the game clock ticked.
The visitors kept their momentum and doubled their lead with 37 minutes played when Ben Zolinski lobbed the ball into the path of Mamba, who made no mistake to beat onrushing Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Buerki for his brace.
Things went from bad to worse before the break as underdogs Paderborn sent hosts Dortmund with a 3-0 deficit into the half time as Gerrit Holtmann shrugged off Dortmund's Julian Weigl to slot home from inside the box in the 43rd minute.
After the restart, Dortmund turned up and pressed Paderborn into the defence. It took the hosts thus only two minutes into the second half to pull one back after Jadon Sancho made the most of Achraf Hakimi's assist.
Dortmund continued on the front foot but had to wait until the 84th minute before Axel Witsel headed home Mats Hummels' cross into the box to reduce the arrears to 3-2.
Paderborn were tired and unable to maintain possession while Dortmund pressed relentlessly for another goal. The "BVB" eventually restored parity in the dying minutes of the game after Sancho's pinpoint cross found Reus, who nodded home from very close range.
"We have to apologise for today's performance. Conceding three goals on home soil in the first 45 minutes is just shameful," Dortmund captain Reus said.
"My team gave everything but in the end we were done. Unfortunately we weren't able to defend the advantage. It is really too bad that we were unable to take three points from here. However, my team played very well," Paderborn coach Steffen Baumgart said.
With the result, Dortmund climb form the 6th to the 5th spot for the moment. Paderborn remain at the bottom of the 18th place.
The following fixtures are scheduled for Saturday: Bayer Leverkusen host Freiburg, Eintracht Frankfurt see Wolfsburg, Werder Bremen meet Schalke, Fortuna Dusseldorf face third placed Bayern Munich, Union Berlin clash with front runners Borussia Monchengladbach, and runner-up Leipzig encounter relegation threatened Cologne.
