The Albany Gazette - Leipzig lose more ground on Bayern with Hoffenheim loss

Hoffenheim came from a goal down to equalise three times and hit the lead with four minutes remaining on a wild debut for new manager Christian Ilzer.

Hoffenheim's Adam Hlozek collected a brace while Tom Bischof scored a clever free-kick and Jacob Bruun Larsen was responsible for the winner in the 86th minute.

Leipzig's efforts came through Willi Orban, Antonio Nusa and an own goal from Hoffenheim's Stanley N'Soki.

Equal on points with Bayern just three matchdays ago, Leipzig have lost two and drawn one and now sit eight behind the league leaders.

Leipzig had only conceded five goals in the league season before Saturday's outing.

"We're incredibly disappointed. We went ahead three times and lost in the end, that really hurts," Leipzig's Christoph Baumgartner told Sky.

Eintracht Frankfurt can leapfrog Leipzig into second place and close the gap on Bayern to six points when they host Werder Bremen later on Saturday.

- 'Special place' -

In Dortmund, the home side won 4-0 over Freiburg thanks to goals from Maximilian Beier, Felix Nmecha, Julian Brandt and Jamie Gittens, while the visitors finished with nine men.

Under fire and sitting outside the European spots coming into the match, Dortmund's one saving grace this league campaign has been their home form, with five wins from five.

"It's a special place here, with the fans behind you," Brandt told Sky, with an eye on next week's home clash with Bayern.

"That'll be a sensational game."

The hosts got on track early, when Beier, who scored a double for Germany's Under-21s against France this week, opened the scoring seven minutes in.

Midfielder Nmecha, who scored for Germany's senior side in their 1-1 draw in Hungary midweek, added a second with a superb long-range effort on the 40-minute mark.

Freiburg's hopes of a comeback were snuffed out after 63 minutes when Patrick Osterhage picked up a second yellow card for a rough tussle with Marcel Sabitzer.

From the ensuing free-kick, Dortmund's Brandt curled the ball home and England winger Gittens bent in a fourth to seal the match with 13 minutes remaining.

Freiburg's Junior Adamu saw straight red for striking Dortmund's Waldemar Anton in stoppage time, reducing his side to nine men.

Dortmund have now won their past six against Freiburg, scoring 24 and conceding five.

Defending champions Leverkusen came from two goals down to win 5-2 at home against Heidenheim thanks to a hat-trick from Patrik Schick.

Heidenheim, who host Chelsea in the Conference League on Thursday, were two goals up within 21 minutes, with Niklas Dorsch and Mathias Honsak taking advantage of some sleepy defence.

World Cup winner Exequiel Palacios pulled one back on the half-hour mark before Schick, in for the injured Victor Boniface, scored three unanswered goals to wrestle back control of the match, before Granit Xhaka added a fifth with eight minutes remaining.

Xhaka told Sky: "Patrik is a striker who has needed to be patient, but when you need him, he's there.

"He doesn't need that many chances."

Last season's runners-up Stuttgart scored two second-half goals through Chris Fuehrich and Justin Diehl to win 2-0 at home over last-placed Bochum, who have just two points from 11 games this season.

Elsewhere, Wolfsburg's Ridle Baku scored the only goal as his side defeated Union Berlin 1-0 at home.

(O.Robinson--TAG)