Dortmund denied by Dusseldorf

Borussia Dortmund were punished for not seeing off Fortuna Dusseldorf as they were pegged back to draw 1-1.

Borussia Dortmund were punished for not seeing off Fortuna Dusseldorf as they were pegged back to draw at the Westfalenstadion. Jakub Blaszczykowski's goal just before half-time seemed like it would be enough for Jurgen Klopp's side to put the pressure on league leaders Bayern Munich, who travel to Freiburg tomorrow night, just days before the top-of-the-table clash at the Allianz Arena on Saturday. However, the home side probably had the weekend's game in the back of their minds as they took the foot off the pedal in the second half and invited Stefan Reisinger to equalise. The visitors ended the game with 10 men as Ivan Paurevic saw a second yellow card late on, but they came away with an unexpected, yet valuable point from Dortmund. It was clear from the way Fortuna lined up that they intended on making life difficult and, above all, frustrating for their hosts. With nine men packed behind the ball and only Robbie Kruse waiting for titbits in the attack, Dortmund were presented with a wall to break down. They set about doing so patiently, trying out wide, trying the direct route and trying even to win free-kicks on the edge of the penalty area, but that was as close as they were allowed to Fabian Giefer's goal. That changed in the 38th minute when Robert Lewandowski, forced to drop deeper than he would normally like, set up Marco Reus who snatched at his shot which Giefer pushed behind for a corner. It was a positive sign for the hosts, who took the lead five minutes later. Lukasz Piszczek's cross was met by Kevin Grosskreutz, who set up Blaszczykowski to fire the ball high into the top left-hand corner. It was almost a case of roles being reversed in the second half with Dortmund no longer feeling the need to chisel away at the Fortuna wall, which was now willing to dismantle itself and attack. Dortmund gave Fortuna a taste of their own medicine, preventing them from getting near enough to their penalty area to test Roman Weidenfeller. When Kruse got past Weidenfeller in the 58th minute, he found Marcel Schmelzer covering on the goal line. It was a risky game that Dortmund were playing, and they were punished in the 78th minute when Reisinger headed Fortuna level from Kruse's cross. The goal prompted an inevitable reaction, but with only 12 minutes left to score, Dortmund were unable to get a winner as they missed the chance to put the pressure on Bayern, gaining only a single point on the Bavarians.