Borussia Dortmund played to a 1-1 draw at Hertha Berlin on Friday in another game without striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and remained unbeaten in the Bundesliga under new coach Peter Stoeger.
Davie Selke opened the scoring for Hertha with his fifth season goal in the opening minute of the second half, with Shinji Kagawa heading the equalizer in the 71st.
Dortmund are third with 30 points and now have two wins followed by two draws since Stoeger replaced Peter Bosz at the helm last month. They are one point behind Leipzig and 14 shy of leaders Bayern Munich. Hertha are 11th with 25 points.
Bayern host third-last Werder Bremen on Sunday while Leipzig are at lowly Freiburg Saturday.
“We had big ambitions but didn’t wake up until we fell behind. We had our chances and could have turned the game around. We can be very satisfied with the last 30 minutes,” forward Andre Schuerrle told Eurosport.
Hertha coach Pal Dardai said: “We played a very good first half and then scored. But we then didn’t get a second and Dortmund came back struck. But we are satisfied with the point.”
Aubameyang was not picked into the squad by Stoeger for sporting reasons, a week after being suspended for disciplinary reasons, with Schuerrle taking his place.
Dortmund sports director Michael Zorc said Aubemayang could return into the team if he acted in a professional way but he would also not fully rule out a sale before the end of the month, with England’s Arsenal allegedly interested.
Like in the 0-0 draw against Wolfsburg, Dortmund at first lacked ideas and danger up front while Hertha came close from Marvin Plattenhardt’s free-kick and Valentino Lazaro’s shot into the side-netting.
Hertha opened the scoring right after the restart, with Lazaro playing a nice one-two with Ondrej Duda on the right wing before crossing low for Selke to tap home at the far post.
Dortmund improved but were also lucky shortly after the hour. Salomon Kalou flicked the ball past goalkeeper Roman Buerki but Hertha team-mate Ondrej Duda sent it into the net from an offside position – although Kalou’s effort would have most likely gone in.
Hertha paid for the costly mistake 10 minutes later as the completely unmarked Kakawa nodded the equalizer at the far right post off a cross from English Millenial Jadon Sancho.
Dortmund pressed for the winner but Sancho aimed wide in the 81st, Kraft saved well from Jeremy Toljan in the 84th, and Swedish teenager Alexander Isak had a shot deflected another minute on.
