Wasteful Borussia Dortmund ended their negative run against Borussia Monchengladbach, winning 1-0, while VFL Wolfsburg beat Hamburg 2-0 to extend their winning streak at the 11th round of Bundesliga.
Bottom-placed Dortmund recovered from a five-game losing streak to jump to the 15th spot in the standings thanks to the own goal by Christoph Kramer Sunday, reports Xinhua.
It was Dortmund's third win while Monchengladbach suffered their first loss of the season to stay on third place.
Juergen Klopp's men staged a powerful performance as they allowed Monchengladbach only one shot on target in the match.
Dortmund dominated the game throughout against the visitors, who never posed any threat to the Dormund defence. However, Dortmund created a bunch of scoring opportunities in the first half but neither Marco Reus nor Henrikh Mikhitaryan were able break the deadlock from promising positions. Monchengladbach goalkeeper Yann Sommer also rose to the occasion saving two on-target efforts from Reus and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
After the restart Dortmund got rewarded for their powerful performance, as Monchengladbach's Christoph Kramer gave the hosts a helping hand when he broke the deadlock following a moment of madness. The German international accidentally lobbed a back pass from 30 meters over his goalkeeper Sommer to open the scoring for the hosts in the 58th minute.
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The opener gave Dortmund momentum as Reus rattled the crossbar minutes later. The visitors finally got their first shot on target at the 64th minute when Patrick Herrmann tried to convert a fast break. It remained the only noteworthy opportunity for them" as Lucien Favre's men never got a foothold in the clash.
Elsewhere, second-placed Wolfsburg remained in the hunt with front-runners Bayern Munich as they clinically defeated Hamburg 2-0.
Wolfsburg's veteran striker Ivica Olic opened the scoring for the hosts in the 27th minute when he deflected Kevin De Bruyne's effort past Hamburg goalie Jaroslav Drobny.
Hamburg remained unfazed and pressed for the equalizer but it was again the hosts who were on target in the 64th minute.
De Bruyne initiated a fast break to tee up for Aaron Hunt, who had plenty of time and space inside the box to slot home, putting the game beyond doubt.
With the victory Wolfsburg sit four points away from Bayern Munich (27 points) while Hamburg suffered their sixth loss to slip to the 17th position.