Andrej Kramaric snatches late win for Hoffenheim at home to Borussia Dortmund
Goals from Sargis Adamyan and Andrej Kramaric saw Hoffenheim come from a goal down at home to beat Borussia Dortmund in their final game of 2019.
Hoffenheim 2-1 Borussia Dortmund
Goals: 0-1 Götze (17'), 1-1 Adamyan (79'), 2-1 Kramaric (87')
The hosts ended a four-match winless run with their 2-0 victory at Union Berlin during the week and looked to build on that early on with Ihlas Bebou breaking through the backline before being denied by a sliding Mats Hummels, who was captaining Dortmund in the absence of the injured Marco Reus. BVB took the lead with just over a quarter of an hour gone when Mario Götze turned home Achraf Hakimi’s low cross for his third goal of the season. Jadon Sancho then had a chance when through on goal but sliced his effort wide moments before Hoffenheim rattled the bar with a trademark Robert Skov free-kick from some 30 yards. Thorgan Hazard then returned the favour at the other end when Oliver Baumann tipped a rising driven effort onto the crossbar.
There was a rare sight for the start of the second half as the two sides made three substitutions at half-time, including Hummels being replaced by Lukasz Piszczek after hurting his wrist early in the game. One of the goalscorers in Tuesday’s draw with RB Leipzig, Julian Brandt, forced a good save out of Baumann before Hakimi flashed an effort across the face of goal. Moments after a last-ditch slide denied Sancho a shot, Christoph Baumgartner fired a volley wide on the run after a long ball over the top. All three TSG subs would eventually have an impact as Jürgen Locadia’s close-range effort after Pavel Kaderabek's cross was blocked by a scrambling Roman Bürki before Adamyan tapped home the rebound to level things up. The comeback was complete with just a few minutes to go when Kramaric sprayed the ball out wide before heading in the cross himself and claim the three points.
Match stats
- Two of Adamyan’s four goals this season have come from the bench. His other two came against Bayern Munich.
- Two of Kramaric's five goals this season have been from headers after managing none in 2018/19.
- Götze scored his first Bundesliga goal away from home since Matchday 30 of last season at Freiburg. His last four strikes had all come at the Signal Iduna Park.
- Hoffenheim continued their run of scoring in all 12 Bundesliga matches at home to Dortmund since their promotion in 2008.
- Hoffenheim are the only current Bundesliga club Dortmund have failed to beat in the last four meetings.
Watch: Kramaric: "We showed great character"
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Line-ups
Hoffenheim: Baumann - Rudy, Nordtveit, Hübner (c), Skov - Grillitsch - Bebou, Samassekou, (Adamyan 46’), Geiger (Locadia 65'), Baumgartner (Kaderabek 78') - Kramaric
Unused subs: Pentke, Bicakcic, Stafylidis, Vogt, Akpoguma, Ribeiro
Out: Belfodil (knee), Posch (unspecified)
Coach: Alfred Schreuder
Dortmund: Bürki - Akanji, Hummels (Piszczek 46’), Zagadou - Hakimi, Weigl, Brandt, Schulz – Hazard (Bruun Larsen 46’), Götze (Alcacer 84'), Sancho
Unused subs: Hitz, Balerdi, Morey, Raschl, Guerreiro
Out: Dahoud (not included), Delaney (ankle), Reus (muscular), Schmelzer (calf), Witsel (facial injury)
Coach: Lucien Favre
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