BERLIN (AP) — Schalke twice fought back to dent Borussia Dortmund’s title ambitions in a 2-2 draw in the Bundesliga’s 100th Ruhr derby on Saturday.
Schalke forward Marius Bülter scored one equalizer then set up the next to end Dortmund’s eight-game winning run in the league and leave Bayern Munich two points clear at the top of the table.
“The second half was wild, the way Schalke wanted it. We gave the win away in the end,” Dortmund coach Edin Terzić said.
Bayern earlier defeated Augsburg 5-3 in their Bavarian derby.
Schalke and Dortmund remain the league’s only unbeaten teams in the second half of the season, but that will be scant consolation to Dortmund, which saw its winning start to 2023 ended on Tuesday when it was knocked out of the Champions League by Chelsea.
Dortmund created more goal chances, but Schalke goalkeeper Ralf Fährmann got the better of Donyell Malen, then showed good reflexes to deny Marius Wolf.
Nico Schlotterbeck finally made the breakthrough in the 38th with a well-struck shot from outside the penalty area inside the right post.
“We had the first half completely under control. We should have decided it in the second,” Schlotterbeck said.
The halftime break came at the right time for Schalke, which struck back through Bülter in the 50th with an easy finish to Michael Frey’s cross after Jude Bellingham lost possession in midfield.
Raphaël Guerreiro restored Dortmund’s lead on the hour mark with a brilliant finish inside the top right corner. But Schalke came back again with Bülter setting up Kenan Karaman to head the equalizer in the 79th.
“An unnecessary goal,” said Terzić, who added his team had enough players in defense to stop it.
BAYERN'S GOAL-SCORING DEFENDERS
Defenders fired Bayern clear at the top with a 5-3 rout of Augsburg in the other derby Saturday.
João Cancelo opened the scoring and Benjamin Pavard grabbed two goals before Alphonso Davies continued the trend of defenders scoring with Bayern’s fifth goal in the 74th.
Augsburg’s Mergim Berisha riled the home team when he scored in the second minute after Pavard failed to clear the ball.
It left Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann cursing on the sideline, but Cancelo – making a rare start – equalized in the 15th, then Pavard atoned for his mistake by scoring four minutes after that and adding another with a stylish volley in the 35th. Leroy Sané made it 4-1 before the break.
Berisha pulled one back with a penalty early in the second half but the result was never in doubt. Irvin Cardona scored Augsburg’s consolation in injury time.
Leipzig moved to third with a 3-0 win over Borussia Mönchengladbach, and there were 1-1 draws between Eintracht Frankfurt and Stuttgart, and Hertha Berlin and Mainz.
Hertha was playing its first game since the club confirmed Miami-based 777 Partners had taken over as a majority shareholder.
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