Dortmund stuns Hoffenheim with 86th-minute own goal to complete comeback

Hoffenheim had the game won for twenty minutes. The hosts went up 2-0 with a pair of goals scored between the end of the first half and the start of the second, dominated possession and chances, and looked on course to pick up their first points of the Bundesliga season. But Borussia Dortmund answered with two goals in five minutes, leveled the match, and just when a share of the spoils seemed likely, an own goal in the 86th minute handed them a 2-3 win at the SNP Arena.

The opening goal was a long time coming, but when it arrived it was a quality finish: in the 44th minute, Leon Avdullahu took a pass from Vladimír Coufal and drilled a low shot from outside the box that snuck in by the left post. Hoffenheim went into the break in front after creating several chances, with Adam Daghim, Adam Hlozek and Tim Lemperle all testing the target without success.

The blow was repeated right after the restart. In the 53rd minute, a counterattack ended with Tim Lemperle curling a right-footed finish into the top left corner, set up by Daghim. Two goals from two quick counters, and Hoffenheim, bottom of the table and pointless up to that moment, were dreaming of pulling off an upset against Dortmund.

Dortmund's response

The visitors wasted little time reacting. Just seven minutes after Hoffenheim's second goal, Serhou Guirassy pulled one back with a strike down the middle of the goal after an assist from Waldemar Anton. And five minutes later, in the 65th minute, Fábio Silva leveled the match with a left-footed shot from inside the box, set up by none other than Guirassy. In the space of twelve minutes, Dortmund had flipped a scoreline that had looked all but settled.

The decisive moment came near the end. In the 86th minute, an own goal from Albian Hajdari made it a final 2-3, handing Dortmund a win that, twenty minutes earlier, had seemed completely out of reach.

What the numbers say

Hoffenheim were the better side in terms of possession and overall volume of play, but they couldn't translate that edge into the final result.

The xG calculated after the fact from the match's shots ends up almost even: 1.99 for Hoffenheim and 1.97 for Dortmund, a figure that reflects just how close the contest was beyond the final score, even though the scoreline ultimately tilted toward the visitors' efficiency at the right moments.

What it means in the standings

With this win, Borussia Dortmund move to 6 points from two matches played, with a perfect record, putting them in the mix at the top alongside Freiburg and SV 07 Elversberg. Hoffenheim, on the other hand, remain without a single point after two matches, a situation that stands in stark contrast to the way they played for much of the match at the SNP Arena.

What this match leaves behind is the image of a Hoffenheim side that did almost everything right for an hour and came away with nothing, and a Dortmund side that, even on an uncomfortable night, found a way to take home all three points.