WOLFSBURG: A late Serhou Guirassy winner settled a tense contest in Wolfsburg as Borussia Dortmund prevailed 2-1 on Saturday to provisionally cut Bayern Munich’s lead at the top of the Bundesliga to three points.
A fifth consecutive league victory moved Niko Kovac’s side to 48 points, within a victory of erstwhile runaway leaders Bayern, who can restore their six-point cushion with victory at in-form Hoffenheim on Sunday.
After a record-breaking start to the season, the champions are winless in their last two games, giving Dortmund the chance to dream of a first title since 2012 with 13 games to go.
It was not a vintage display by Dortmund, but they ground out victory against a Wolfsburg team who have only won once since the turn of the year thanks to goals by Julian Brandt and Guirassy, either side of a Konstantinos Koulierakis leveller for the hosts.
Meanwhile, Werder Bremen’s coaching change did little to alter its fortunes as the team lost 1-0 in Freiburg on Daniel Thioune’s debut.
Jan-Niklas Beste let fly and found the top far corner in the 13th for Freiburg, which had Johan Manzambi sent off early in the second half for a foul on Bremen’s Olivier Deman.
Thioune’s team was unable to capitalise on the extra player and is now 11 league games without a win. Bremen faces a visit from Bayern next weekend.
St. Pauli boosted its survival hopes with a hard-fought 2-1 win over VfB Stuttgart.
The Hamburg-based team remained second-from-bottom, but they opened a four-point gap on bottom side Heidenheim, which lost 2-0 at home to Hamburger SV. Bremen’s defeat means St. Pauli are just two points from the relegation playoff place.
Elsewhere, Nadiem Amiri scored two penalties, one in each half, for Mainz to beat Augsburg 2-0 for their third straight win.
Amiri ripped off his distinctive carnival-inspired jersey as he celebrated the second one to seal the win. The thoughtful Lee Jae-sung picked it up so he could resume when the celebrations died down.
On Friday, Union Berlin’s Leopold Querfeld converted a late penalty to snatch a 1-1 hone draw spoiling Albert Riera’s debut as Eintracht Frankfurt coach.
Appointed Monday, Riera was on track for a dream start in the dugout when Nathaniel Brown broke Union’s stubborn resistance with six minutes remaining.
Three minutes later, Frankfurt’s Oscar Hojlund yanked Union captain Rani Khedira down in the box, allowing Querfeld to convert from the spot, denying Frankfurt a first win of 2026.
Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2026
