Bremen misses chance to go top despite curious own goal
BERLIN (AP) — Borussia Dortmund came from two goals down at Bayer Leverkusen to win 4-2 and take top spot in the Bundesliga on Saturday.
Dortmund looked flat and headed for a sure defeat with Leverkusen leading 2-0 at halftime thanks to goals from Mitchell Weiser and Jonathan Tah, but Marco Reus set up Jacob Bruun Larsen to pull one back in the 65th minute, then scored himself minutes later.
Substitute Paco Alcacer claimed Dortmund's third with five minutes remaining and sealed the win with his second on a counterattack in injury time.
"It was clear we had to show a reaction. Otherwise it would have gone completely differently," Reus said of Dortmund's lackluster first half against a clearly dominant Leverkusen. "When you come back so strongly that's really impressive."
Dortmund, the only unbeaten side left, leads by a point from Bayern Munich, which lost for the first time on Friday at Hertha Berlin after dropping points to Augsburg on Tuesday.
Hertha is level with Bayern on 13 points after six games.
OWN-GOAL FOR THE AGES
As own-goals go, Stuttgart produced a classic while defeating previously unbeaten Werder Bremen 2-1.
Stuttgart was a goal up and facing 10 men following Milos Veljkovic's sending off in the first half, when defender Borna Sosa caught his goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler by surprise with a throw that he failed to control. It bounced past Zieler and into their net.
According to the laws of soccer, the goal would not have counted if Zieler hadn't touched the ball lightly on its way past - it would have just been a corner to Bremen.
Gonzalo Castro relieved Stuttgart's blushes by scoring his first goal for the team with 15 minutes remaining.
"I have to give my team a big compliment after coming back from such an own-goal," Stuttgart coach Tayfun Korkut said after his side's first win. "We showed courage after this setback."
Bremen blew a chance to go to the top of the league.
SCHALKE ENDS LOSING STREAK
Alessandro Schoepf's early header was enough for Schalke to beat Mainz 1-0 and end its five-game losing start to the league.
Borussia Moenchengladbach missed a chance to go top after being held in Wolfsburg to 2-2.
Also, Nuremberg beat promoted rival Fortuna Duesseldorf 3-0, and Leipzig won at Hoffenheim 2-1.
