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Fortuna Dusseldorf end Dortmund's unbeaten run

By Paul Myers - RFI
Sports News REUTERSThilo Schmuelgen
DEC 19, 2018 LISTEN
REUTERS/Thilo Schmuelgen

Borussia Dortmund's imperious start to the Bundesliga season came to an end on Tuesday night with a surprise 2-1 defeat at Fortuna Duesseldorf. Dodi Lukebakio gave the hosts the lead midway through the first half.

The 21-year-old Belgian striker broke free of the back line to latch onto Kevin Stoeger's through ball. He coolly slotted it into the bottom left hand corner past the onrushing goalkeeper Roman Burki.

Fortuna doubled their advantage in spectacular fashion. Jean Zimmer picked up the ball on the right hand side just outside the penalty area and blasted it into the top left hand corner. Burki had no chance. Paco Alcacer ensured a nervous finale for the Fortuna faithful when he halved the deficit with nine minutes remaining.

But Friedhelm Funkel's men held on to register only their fourth win of the camapign.

"We weren't hungry enough for the win and we deserved to lose," Dortmund striker Marco Reus told Sky. "It's been harder of late because teams have been sitting deeper against us. We were already running into a brick wall when it was 0-0 and it was even more like that at 2-0 down."

Fortuna's victory at the Merkur Spiel-Arena took them out of the Bundesliga relegation zone. They have 15 points from 16 games.

Dortmund's lead at the top of the table shrank to six points after Thorgan Hazard and Alassane Pléa were on the mark for second placed Borussia Moenchengladbach's 2-0 win against Nuremberg.

The margin could be three points before the weekend as Dortmund entertain Gladbach on Friday night.

"We are looking forward to the game in Dortmund," said Gladbach goalkeeper Yann Sommer. "First against second and a game in a great stadium against a very good team. We can end the year on a positive note."

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