Football: Borussia Dortmund stage late comeback win to go top of the Bundesliga

Image Credits: Reuters

Borussia Dortmund scored four times in the last 25 minutes to come from two goals down and beat Bayer Leverkusen 4-2 on Saturday to climb on top of the Bundesliga.

Goals from Jacob Bruun Larsen in the 65th minute, Marco Reus in the 69th and two from Paco Alcacer in the last five minutes overturned a 2-0 lead by Bayer Leverkusen after first-half goals from Mitchell Weiser and Jonathan Tah.

That's right, @woodyinho, we are #1 

Top of the table @Bundesliga_EN pic.twitter.com/wdwignKP2i

— Borussia Dortmund (@BlackYellow) September 29, 2018

Spaniard Alcacer, who joined from Barcelona this season, had come on as a substitute in the 63rd minute. Dortmund now have 14 points, one ahead of champions Bayern Munich, who suffered their first defeat of the season on Friday with a 2-0 loss at Hertha Berlin.

"We kept believing we can turn this around," said Dortmund coach Lucien Favre. "I think it was a fantastic game for the fans. We put in a good start. Now we are at the top of the table after six match days. Obviously, we are satisfied."

An Alessandro Schoepf goal gave Schalke 04 a 1-0 win over Mainz 05 to snap their five-game losing run and move them off the bottom of the Bundesliga. Last season`s runners-up went ahead when Austria midfielder Schoepf drilled in a header in the 11th minute.

They twice hit the woodwork through Yevhen Konoplyanka in the second half but almost conceded a late equaliser as they retreated and defended desperately for their first win, throwing their under-pressure coach Domenico Tedesco a lifeline. Schalke, who travel to Lokomotiv Moscow in the Champions League on Wednesday, had lost all five of their previous Bundesliga matches.

VfB Stuttgart also earned their first win of the season, beating in-form Werder Bremen 2-1 despite goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler`s spectacular own goal. The former Germany international miskicked a throw-in from a teammate, sending the ball into his own net for Werder`s equaliser, before Gonzalo Castro snatched the winner for the hosts in the 75th minute.

Werder, unbeaten until Saturday, are fifth on 11 points while Stuttgart move up to 15th. RB Leipzig are also on 11 points in sixth after beating Champions League club Hoffenheim 2-1 thanks to two goals from Yussuf Poulsen.