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Donyell Malen (r.) scored twice against Cologne

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Beautiful Sports / Wunderl / IMAGO / Beautiful Sports

On the 18th matchday of the Bundesliga, Borussia Dortmund gave 1. FC Cologne no chance.

Eintracht Frankfurt lost a 2-0 lead against SV Darmstadt and TSG Hoffenheim lost to SC Freiburg in a high-scoring game.

Heidenheim and Wolfsburg drew.

The game between VfL Bochum and VfB Stuttgart was delayed after half-time because escape and rescue routes were covered and had to be cleared first.

BVB took the lead early on with a clever corner variation: Julian Brandt played flat to the penalty spot, where Donyell Malen shot into the far corner (12th minute).

Niclas Füllkrug (33rd) and Thomas Meunier with a dropkick (37th) missed the 2-0 in the first half.

The game could have been exciting at the start of the second half.

BVB goalkeeper Gregor Kobel had to save against Jan Thielmann (46th), Linton Maina's high shot hit the right post (51st).

Then Jadon Sancho danced past Rasmus Carstensen, who used his hands, which resulted in a penalty.

Füllkrug converted safely (58th).

The game was really decided when New Dortmund's Ian Maatsen played an outstanding ball from the left wing.

Malen was free and kept his nerve (61').

Youssoufa Moukoko increased the score to 4-0 after being substituted on (90.+2).

For Dortmund coach Edin Terzic it was the first win in Cologne, which is still second to last, level on points with Darmstadt.

BVB (33 points) is fifth and remains in the race for the Champions League places.

The regional duel between Darmstadt and Frankfurt was initially one-sided.

Eintracht put pressure on early on, but Marcel Schuhen prevented the early 0-1 with a strong reflex against Niels Nkounkou (3rd), who immediately became dangerous again (14th).

The Frenchman only found the back of the net in the 33rd minute, using a cross from Èric Ebimbe.

Frankfurt's lead was initiated by winter loanee Sasa Kalajdzic, who was also involved in the 2-0: Ebimbe again played from the wing into the penalty area, where Kalajdzic passed it on to Ansgar Knauff, who only had to push in at the second post (51').

Darmstadt actually had no chance, but they still scored thanks to a failed attempt at clearing by SGE keeper Kevin Trapp, whose subsequent shot from Julian Justvan also slipped through his legs (62').

SV was now in the game – and actually equalized in the fifth minute of stoppage time.

Darmstadt attacked on the left side, Tobias Kempe played across and Christoph Klarer pushed in.

The result did not change the standings in the table: Frankfurt is still in sixth place with 28 points, while Darmstadt remains last.

After 18 games, SV has only eleven points and 46 goals conceded.

The neighbors in the table met in Freiburg's Europa Park Stadium: Hoffenheim took eighth place, Freiburg was seventh in the table with one point more.

The sports club took the lead through Lucas Höler: Vincenzo Grifo moved from the left to the middle and chipped the ball into the penalty area to Höler, who scored with the outside of his foot (37th).

The linesman raised the flag, but according to video evidence, the home team was allowed to celebrate.

After the break it was another brilliant move from Grifo that made it 2-0.

Michael Gregoritsch won the ball and served Grifo.

The SCF captain was pushed outwards in the penalty area, but then created some space by turning and shot into the far corner (55th).

Two minutes later, Hoffenheim scored the next goal.

After a one-two, Wout Weghorst shot slowly but well into the left corner from 16 meters from a half-right position (57').

Maximilian Beier made it 2-2 with a powerful full-range shot (77').

In the final phase, Manuel Gulde was shown a yellow-red card (82'), but when he was outnumbered, Roland Sallai scored to make it 3-2 for Freiburg (85').

Wolfsburg scored with their first attempt: Vaclav Černý fed Jonas Wind and started into the penalty area.

With his back to the goal, Wind played to Černý again, the Czech kept his nerve and put the ball past FCH goalkeeper Kevin Müller and into the net (7th).

After the perfect start, VfL remained the team that dominated the game.

The hosts initially couldn't find their way into the game, but they still came very close to the equalizer.

Jan Schöppner put a follow-up shot into the net, but it was just offside (21').

The Heidenheim team had more luck in stoppage time in the first half.

Omar Traoré was sent down the right wing and brought the ball flat towards the six-yard box, where Moritz Jenz slotted the cross into his own goal (45th + 2).

Tim Kleindienst scored with a flying header in the second half, but again the Heidenheim goal did not count due to an offside position (63).

mrk/mlb