Borussia Dortmund extended their lead at the top of the table to seven points with a 1-1 (1-1) draw at Eintracht Frankfurt on Matchday 20 of the Bundesliga season.

Boris Rupert reporting from Frankfurt

The 51,500 spectators at a sold-out Commerzbank-Arena served up an outstanding atmosphere at a top match that lived up to its billing. Marco Reus opened the scoring for BVB after 22 minutes but then spurned several chances to extend the lead, and the Eagles made their visitors pay by notching a deserved equaliser through Jovic on 36 minutes.

The scenario: 
It had been some time since league leaders BVB had suffered a defeat against Eintracht Frankfurt, who had failed to beat them in each of their previous five competitive meetings in 2017 and 2018. However, the Black & Yellows last claimed all three points in Frankfurt back in 2013. Dortmund won the reverse fixture by a 3-1 scoreline.

Personnel matters: 
Piszczek, who had suffered a foot injury against Hannover, indicated after the warm-up that he was fit to play and so Favre only made one change to the team that beat the 96ers 5-1 last weekend, replacing Götze with Alcácer.

Tactics:  
Both teams played a very high pressing game and sought to counter at lightning speed. While the Black & Yellows lined up in their usual 4-2-3-1 formation, their opponents from Hesse took to the field in a 3-4-1-2 system. Jovic played in the attacking midfield role behind the two forwards Haller and Rebic, who both occupied central positions in a bid to create space for the full-backs to push up. But whenever Borussia Dortmund enjoyed a long spell of possession, both Kostic (left) and Da Costa (right) would drop back to expand the defence to a back five.

The match & analysis:
Rarely has an encounter billed as a "top match" been more deserving of its name than this one, which was played with extreme intensity and involved numerous penalty box incidents from the very first second. Bürki was first called into action with only 126 seconds on the clock and, although the Swiss shot-stopper brilliantly blocked a Da Costa effort with his foot, the Eagles made life very difficult for their visitors, forcing them into misplaced passes with their high pressing.

However, their very attack-minded approach meant plenty of space at the back and that allowed BVB to carve open opportunities. The first noteworthy one came on 12 minutes when Sancho picked out Alcácer, who executed a flick to technical perfection that was put behind for a corner by a defender.

Two goals and woodwork hit twice in opening half

Reus and Guerreiro teamed up down the left flank to create the opening goal in the 22nd minute, with the Portugal international bundling his way through in the box before teeing up Reus to nutmeg Kostic and edge the visitors in front. The captain had several more opportunities to extend the lead in the following period, dragging a shot wide of the mark on 24 minutes, striking the crossbar barely 60 seconds later and blasting a low cross from a free-kick on the right flank over the frame of the goal on the 29-minute mark.

And the Black & Yellows were soon made to pay for that profligacy when Frankfurt struck back on the 36-minute mark. In the space of a few minutes, Bürki made an outstanding stop with an outstretched leg to deny Rebic (34), who then headed against the bar from a corner (36), before the breakthrough eventually came when BVB failed to clear the ball properly and Jovic managed to get on the end of a Da Costa cross from the right flank to level the score at 1-1.

BVB look to re-establish lead

Fortunately, Hakimi had recovered from a collision with Rode on the stroke of half-time and both coaches opted against any changes at the break. BVB initially pushed to re-establish their lead in the opening stages of the second half – Witsel (55) and Hakimi (65) both fired narrowly wide – and were the livelier team, prompting the hosts to make a defensive switch – Gacinovic replaced Jovic – and adopt a counter-attacking approach. Rebic forced Bürki into another save on 57 minutes, while Alcácer dummied brilliantly to tee up substitute Pulisic only for Rode to clear for a corner (67).

Dortmund had 67 percent possession in the second period and almost went 2-1 ahead in the 85th minute when Alcácer's free-kick from 26 metres landed on the roof of the net. In the end, though, it finished 1-1.

All the goals and highlights at a click

Outlook:  
Borussia face their first "English week" of 2019, starting with a DFB Cup tie against Werder Bremen at Signal Iduna Park on Tuesday (20:45 CET) and finishing with another home game against TSG Hoffenheim on Saturday (15:30 CET).

Teams & goals