Dortmund suffer blow in title race with scrappy draw at Augsburg

AUGSBURG, Germany (Reuters) – Borussia Dortmund slipped up with a 1-1 draw at Augsburg on Sunday to drop eight points behind leaders Bayern Munich and suffer a setback in the Bundesliga title race.

The Ruhr valley club took the lead with a Thorgan Hazard solo effort in the 35th minute but eased off, with Augsburg snatching a 78th-minute equaliser through Noah Sarenren Bazee.

The result left Dortmund on 50 points in second place, eight behind Bayern, who beat Eintracht Frankfurt 1-0 on Saturday. Bayer Leverkusen are third on 44.

Dortmund were looking to bounce back from their midweek Europa League exit to Rangers but were still without top striker Erling Haaland and also lost captain Marco Reus because of a knock.

The visitors needed Hazard’s superb individual skills to take the lead, with the Belgian cutting into the box, wrongfooting two markers and rifling in.

Donyell Malen came close to a second goal in the 51st when his shot was tipped on to the bar by Augsburg keeper Rafal Gikiewicz.

Dortmund, however, stepped off the gas, giving the hosts space to come forward and Augsburg capitalised on that when Iago sent the ball into the box and Sarenren Bazee drilled in his header to level.