Dortmund beat Bremen to close gap at the top of Bundesliga
Borussia Dortmund capitalized on Bayern Munich's unexpected draw at Eintracht Frankfurt on Friday night by reducing the arrears at the top of the Bundesliga to five points with a 3-1 win at Werder Bremen.
Marco Reus scored twice for Thomas Tuchel's men, with Henrikh Mkhitaryan creating both and scoring one himself at the Weserstadion.
Anthony Ujah brought Bremen level in the first half, but once Dortmund found a higher gear it was no longer a contest.
Dortmund put seven goals past Paderborn in the DFB-Pokal in midweek and it did not take them long to open the scoring in Bremen either, with Reus meeting Mkhitaryan's cross unmarked at the far post to beat Felix Wiedwald.
Bremen's response was positive, perhaps aided by recent morale-boosting wins over Mainz and Cologne which had ended a five-game losing streak.
And Viktor Skripnik's men were level after half an hour, with Ujah tucking the ball in after Florian Grillitsch's shot was parried by Roma Burki.
Bremen continued to press but it was Dortmund who went in at the break in front, with Mats Hummels' cross headed in by Mkhitaryan who, like Reus, had been left completely unmarked.
The visitors should have doubled their advantage early in the second half when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was faced with the whole goal to aim at from eight yards out but contrived to shoot over the crossbar.
Aubameyang wasted another glorious opportunity with only Wiedwald to beat, although it was Alejandro Galvez who saved Bremen this time with his clearance off the line.
It was not long before Reus finally put the result beyond doubt, though, picking up Mkhitaryan's pass before beating Wiedwald in the 72nd minute.
