Dortmund win, Leverkusen held in German Bundesliga

Dortmund moved 3-1 past Monchengladbach whereas Leverkusen shared the spoils with Hoffenheim following a 1-1 at the 18th round of Bundesliga on Saturday.

Runner-up Dortmund started with a 3-1 win against fourth placed Monchengladbach into the second half of the campaign. Thomas Tuchel's men staged a powerful performance against the "Foals" to record their 13th win of the season.

Both sides staged an evenly balanced start into the encounter yet the "BVB" were able to pose more threat. Nevertheless, the 54.010 spectators at the Borussia-Park had to wait until the 41st minute before Marco Reus broke the deadlock into the far post corner after Ilkay Guendogan's through ball.

Monchengladbach turned up after the break but neither Ibrahima Traore nor Lars Stindl were able to level the scores from promising positions. Dortmund punished Monchengladbach's wastefulness moments later as Henrikh Mkhitaryan made use of Reus' build-up to slot home the 2-0 lead at the 51st minute.

Monchengladbach's Raffael sparked hopes seven minutes later as he reduced the arrears to 2-1 from very close range. It was a short-lived joy for the hosts since Dortmund destroyed all hopes of a comeback with the 3-1 by Guendogan, who tapped in Mkhitaryan's pinpoint cross into the box at the 75th minute.

As a result, Dortmund stay on the second place with an eight point deficit to front runners Bayern Munich. Meanwhile Monchengladbach remain on the fourth place.

Fifth placed Leverkusen craved out a 1-1 draw at relegation threatened Hoffenheim thanks to the equalizer by Oemer Toprak.

The "Werkself" dictated the pace throughout the first half but it were yet the hosts who opened the scoring against the run of the game, five minutes before the half-time whistle.

Jiloan Hamad capitalized on Stefan Kiessling's clearance following a corner to score his first goal for the "TSG". The midfielder intercepted the clearance and volleyed home the opener into the top right corner from the edge of the box.

Leverkusen needed some time to recover from the setback while Hoffenheim's Hamad almost doubled the lead but his effort rattled only the bar at the 49th minute. The hosts showed a vital sign through Hakan Calhanoglu, whose shot from sharp angle got defused by Hoffenheim keeper Oliver Baumann.

However, Hoffenheim remained dangerous and worked out another promising opportunity but Jonathan Schmid's turnshot struck only the woodwork in the 59th minute.

The visitors pressed for the leveller and got rewarded through Oemer Toprak who poked home a rebound from very close range to restore parity at the 75th minute. Roger Schmidt's men piled on the pressure but failed to grab a winner on the road.

With the result Leverkusen stay on the 5th position while Hoffenheim remain in the drop zone of the Bundesliga standings.

Elsewhere, Berlin failed to tighten the third place owing to a goalless draw with Augsburg. Hannover dropped to the last place following a 2-1 loss, as Darmstadt's Sandro Wagner's double strike turned the tides.

Stuttgart came from behind to beat Cologne 3-1 thanks to the goals by Daniel Didavi, Timo Werner and Christian Gentner meanwhile newly promoted Ingolstadt clinched the 6th win of the season with a 1-0 over Mainz, who remain goalless for the third consecutive time.

The following matches conclude the 18th round of Bundesliga on Sunday: Frankfurt host Wolfsburg and Schalke clash with Bremen. Endit