Borussia Dortmund blew a two-goal lead but hit back to win 3-2 at Bayer Leverkusen and climb up to second place in the Bundesliga, trying to catch runaway leader Bayern Munich.
Marco Reus gave Dortmund the lead after three minutes and Jakub Blaszczykowski doubled the advantage in the ninth minute from the spot. Stefan Reinartz scored a brace in the 58th and 62nd minutes to equalize only to see Robert Lewandowski make it 3-2 seconds later.
Blaszczykowski saw his second penalty attempt stopped in the 70th minute but Dortmund held on for the victory, its fourth in a row as it continues to trail Bayern by 12 points.
Leverkusen suffered its first Bundesliga loss at home this season as it dropped down to third.
Dortmund was without first-choice goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller, who missed the match with the flu and was replaced by Mitchell Langerak.
But the visitors grabbed the lead after just three minutes with Lewandowski sending a superb through ball for Reus, who hit a looping shot over Leverkusen goalkeeper Bernd Leno.
Leno then dragged down Lewandowski in the eighth minute for a Dortmund penalty which Blaszczykowski converted into the lower left corner to make it 2-0.
Leverkusen missed two chances to pull a goal back in the first half with Stefan Kiessling’s header going over the bar in the 14th minute and Andre Schurrle striking just high a minute before the break.
The hosts continued their push forward but were unable to use a double chance in the 50th minute with Langerak stopping Kiessling’s close-range shot and Dortmund defender Mats Hummels blocking Schurrle’s rebound attempt at the line.
Leverkusen finally made it 2-1 after 58 minutes as Kiessling looped the ball over the defense before Reinartz poked home from six yards.
Leverkusen equalized four minutes later from a set piece with Gonzalo Castro’s free kick going to Sebastian Boenisch, who headed it back across goal for Reinartz to nod home.
Dortmund answered right back in the 63rd minute with Philipp Wollscheid playing a poor back pass to Leno, who fended the ball away but right into the path of Lewandowski to give him an easy finish.
Dortmund missed a chance to re-establish the two-goal lead in the 70th minute as Leno held Blaszczykowski’s spot kick to the lower right corner after Boenisch took down Lewandowski.
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