Borussia Dortmund's seven-match winning run in all competitions came to an abrupt end on Friday evening as Thomas Tuchel's team suffered a 3-1 (2-0) defeat away to Hamburg.

Dennis-Julian Gottschlich reports

The 57,000 spectators, including over 7,000 BVB fans, inside a sold-out Volksparkstadion saw an intelligent first-half performance by the hosts. Though Hamburg let BVB dictate the play, they were compact and solid at the back. A Lasogga penalty (19) and a Holtby strike (41) put HSV into a 2-0 first-half lead. Hummels' own goal (54) made it 3-0 in a match in which BVB refused to give up and created several chances but were often denied by the post and the sensational reflexes of Hamburg 'keeper Adler. Aubameyang pulled one back in the closing stages (86).

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The scenario:
The two teams were squaring off for the 110th time. The Black and Yellows boasted the marginally better record, with 41 wins, 40 defeats and 28 draws, but they were without a win in the Hanseatic City for almost four years. Their last victory there was a resounding 5-1 win back in January 2012. "Everyone knows how tough it is to play in Hamburg. We've had our problems there in the last few years," admitted Henrikh Mkhitaryan prior to the encounter. Thomas Tuchel was expecting an "intense match against an opponent that defends with discipline, shows passion and covers a lot of ground".

Personnel matters:
Marco Reus was named in the Borussia Dortmund starting XI 15 days after tearing muscle fibres in the Europa League clash with Gabala. Castro dropped to the bench to make way in what was the only change to BVB's line-up from the derby victory over Schalke two weeks ago. Durm and Sahin (both on individual training programmes) were absent. Ramos, who only returned to Dortmund from international duty in Colombia on Thursday, did not make the trip to Hamburg either. HSV were without Ekdal, Hunt (both on individual training programmes) and Diekmeier (torn ligament).

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Reus, who recovered from injury to make the starting XI, battles with Sakai.

Tactics:
BVB lined up in a 4-1-4-1 formation in which Gündogan dropped back alongside Weigl from time to time. Reus began on the left of the attacking midfield trio but occasionally switched to the right wing during the first 45 minutes. HSV sat back and gave the visitors space, defending in a 4-4-2 formation in which Holtby slotted in the hole behind lone striker Lasogga. 

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Ginter remained in the changing rooms at half-time and was replaced by Piszczek.

The match & analysis:
Hamburg started brightly and repeatedly caused BVB problems right from the start, though they were unable to inflict damage upon their visitors until the 18th minute when Holtby threaded a pass through to team-mate Ilicevic. The Croat bore down on Bürki's goal and pushed the ball past the goalkeeper as he entered the penalty area. Bürki stumbled as he attempted to gather the ball and brought his opponent down, conceding a penalty which Lasogga hit confidently into the left of the goal to make it 1-0 (19).

Borussia Dortmund could have found a way back into the match through Reus, whose free-kick from 17 metres after just 9 minutes had failed to beat the Hamburg defensive wall. However, HSV custodian Adler made a strong save to block the winger's low shot (23). It was to remain the Black and Yellows' only real chance in the first half. Following a counter-attack by Müller, Holtby latched onto a through-ball and converted to double the hosts' lead from a centre-right position (41).  

In the first half, BVB did put together some attractive combination play, had the lion's share of possession (61 per cent), boasted an 80% pass completion rate and won over 60 per cent of the challenges. However, the men from Hamburg played with great commitment, covered a lot of ground and dug their heels in, never really allowing the Westphalians to get into their stride and punishing them ruthlessly on the counter.

Borussia refuse to give up

Thomas Tuchel reacted with a double-substitution, replacing Kagawa and Ginter with Castro and Piszczek after the break. And the Black and Yellows were quick to create chances: Mkhitaryan hit the ball just wide of the left post from the edge of the box (49), as did Schmelzer (51), before Aubameyang squandered a chance from 13 metres out (52).

At the other end, Piszczek denied Müller right at the last second (53). From the resulting corner, an unlucky Mats Hummels headed the ball into his own net from close range to make it 3-0, thus effectively ending the match as a contest (54). However, the Black and Yellows did not give up: Adler reacted sensationally from Aubameyang before Gündogan fired the ball centimetres wide of the goal (63).

The match became tense towards the end, though luck was not on BVB's side. Adler's unbelievable performance continued as he pushed a well-struck Gündogan free-kick onto the far post with another spectacular last-minute save (77). Aubameyang pulled one back for BVB following excellent build-up play from Mkhitaryan and Januzaj (86). In the closing stages Adler made good saves from Castro and Aubameyang, before Januzaj struck the woodwork with another effort (90+1).

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Prospects:
There are seven matches remaining for Borussia Dortmund before the winter break. The next one will come in Russia against FK Krasnodar in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday (26 November at 17:00 CET). Three days later VfB Stuttgart will travel to SIGNAL IDUNA PARK in the Bundesliga (Sunday 29 November at 15:30 CET).

Teams & goals