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dpa

Berlin

Union Berlin suffered a first season defeat on Saturday but retained the Bundesliga lead because Borussia Dortmund also lost a week ahead of their prestigious duel with Bayern Munich.

Dortmund fell 3-2 in Cologne after leading 1-0 from Julian Brandt. The hosts hit back within three minutes after the break from Florian Kainz and former Dortmund player Steffen Tigges, Dejan Ljubicic got their third, and Tom Rothe a late second for Dortmund.

Union lost 2-0 at Eintracht Frankfurt but are still top, on goal difference over Freiburg who won 2-1 against Mainz.

Bayern and Dortmund are two points back ahead of their October 8 showdown in Dortmund. Ten-time reigning champions Bayern ended a mini crisis 4-0 against lowly Bayer Leverkusen on Friday.

In Cologne, Dortmund captain Jude Bellingham set up Brandt nicely between two defenders to slot home the opening goal in the 31st minute.

But the hosts reversed matters when Kainz levelled in the 53rd and his corner three minutes later was headed home by Tigges at the near post.

Ljubicic seemed to have wrapped up matters with a curling shot into the far right corner with 20 minutes left but Cologne had to sweat it out after Rothe’s seemingly attemped cross took a deflection into the net over goalkeeper Marvin Schwäbe.

In Freiburg, Michael Gregoritsch scored the first and set up Daniel-Kofi Kyereh for the second. Aaron Martin Caricol was on target for Mainz after the break.

Elsewhere, Timo Werner ended a weeks-long drought with a brace and reported Chelsea target Christopher Nkunku also netted twice - and missed a penalty - as RB Leipzig trounced Bochum 4-0 in the first match for new coach Thomas Laetsch at the bottom club.Wolfsburg got a last-gasp 3-2 win over winless VfB Stuttgart from Yannick Gerhardt while Werder Bremen host Borussia Mönchengladbach in the late game.

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02/10/2022
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