Borussia Dortmund scored 3 goals in five first-half minutes to beat VfL Wolfsburg 3-1 for their first Bundesliga away win of the season, despite being down to 10 men just after the hour mark, while rose to sixth position. on Sunday.
Donyell Malen, Maximilian Beier and Julian Brandt scored for Dortmund, who had Pascal Gross sent off after 62 minutes soon after Denis Vavro had pulled a goal back for the hosts.
Dortmund returned to the winning tactic after three consecutive draws and moved to 25 points from 15 games to occupy the last European qualification spot, while Wolfsburg remain in 11th place with 21.
Bayern Munich, who beat RB Leipzig 5-1 on Friday, lead with 36 points, four points ahead of Bayer Leverkusen.
It was a slow start at the Volkswagen Arena, with neither team testing the goalkeepers in the first 20 minutes.
But Malen then marked his return to Dortmund’s starting lineup in style, opening the scoring with a volley from close range after a corner in the 25th minute.
Beier doubled the lead 3 minutes later with a very good shot against the post before passing to Brandt, who returned after a month out due to injury and scored on the half hour mark.
Wolfsburg’s first clear chance came after the break, when substitute Lukas Nmecha saved Gregor Kobel nicely in a one-on-one.
Shortly after, they managed to score thanks to a header by Vavro from a corner kick in the 58th minute.
Dortmund were down to 10 men 4 minutes later when Gross sent off for a last-man foul on Nmecha, but Wolfsburg were unable to take advantage of their numerical advantage.