Erling Haaland (L) of Dortmund vies with Sebastiaan Bornauw of Cologne during a German Bundesliga football match between Borussia Dortmund and FC Cologne in Dortmund, Germany, Nov. 28, 2020. (Photo by Juergen Fromme/firo Sportphoto/Pool/handout via Xinhua)
BERLIN, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- Cologne ended its 18-match winless streak and recorded its first win of the campaign after upsetting Borussia Dortmund 2-1 by courtesy of Ellyes Skhiri's brace at the ninth round in Bundesliga on Saturday.
The "BVB" took over from the kick-off and created a promising chance with just four minutes played when Jadon Sancho rattled the woodwork with a curl.
It was Cologne though who opened the scoring at the other end of the green as Marius Wolf flicked on a corner allowing Skhiri to tap home right-footed at the far post with nine minutes gone.
Dortmund dominated possession but was unable to turn its dominance into a tangible reward as Erling Haaland pulled wide at the near post in the 26th minute before Mats Hummels header was ruled offside four minutes later.
After the restart, Cologne's goalkeeper Timo Horn had to be on guard for the first time to deny Marco Reus' free kick on target four minutes into the second half.
Dortmund continued to control the ball but for all that Cologne doubled its lead with an exact copy of the first goal, as Wolf flicked on a corner before Skhiri poked home his brace at the hour mark.
The good build-up work of the "BVB" youngsters Youssoufa Moukoko and Giovanni Reyna helped Thorgan Hazard to halve the deficit after beating Horn into the far post corner in the 74th minute.
The hosts pressed frenetically for the leveler whereas Cologne defended deep and kept all its men behind the ball but neither Hummels nor Haaland was able to restore parity despite golden chances in the closing stages.
With the result, Borussia Dortmund slump to the third position and sit six points adrift to front runners Bayern Munich. Meanwhile, Cologne reap vital points to move onto 15th place, out of the drop zone.
"I am of course deeply disappointed after losing to Cologne and on home soil," Dortmund head coach Lucien Favre said.
Elsewhere, defending champions Bayern Munich march on atop the standings after coming from behind to beat newly promoted Stuttgart on the goals from Kingsley Coman, Robert Lewandowski and Douglas Costa.
Union Berlin squandered a two-goal lead and were held to three-all draw by Eintracht Frankfurt.
Leipzig climb on the 2nd place of the Bundesliga standings after securing a hard-earned 2-1 win over courageous newcomers Arminia Bielefeld while Augsburg and Freiburg played out a 1-1 stalemate. Enditem
