Julian Brandt scores with back to send Dortmund top in Bundesliga

Julian Brandt scored with his back and Borussia Dortmund held on to move to the top of the Bundesliga after beating Hoffenheim 10It was Dortmunds ninth win from nine games across all competitions this year and enough for the team to move three points clear of 10time defending champion Bayern Munich and surprise challenger Union BerlinBayern which has seen its fourpoint lead disappear since the winter break hosts Union on SundayBrandt scored for the fourth consecutive league game for Dortmund Marco Reus whipped in a free kick and Brandt bent forward so the ball skimmed in off his back shortly before the breakThings are working out for us at the moment Brandt said A little bit of luck is part of it Were efficient Today we were a little less efficient then weve been over the past few weeks when we played very well We have many guys in great form and as we saw in the last few weeks others whove come in and scored very important goals for us A lot is coming togetherMarius Wolf thought hed made it 20 with a powerful strike inside the near post but the goal was chalked off for an apparent foul by Nico Schlotterbeck on Ihlas BebouDortmund goalkeeper Gregor Kobel denied Andrej Kramaric from the resulting free kick but Hoffenheim kept up its pressure to the endIn the past we often lost such games so from that point of view its a positive development Brandt said Nevertheless its a very very very strong moment what weve delivered in the past few weeks And we have to keep goingIt was American coach Pellegrino Matarazzos third consecutive defeat since taking over at HoffenheimSCHALKE AND HERTHA CELEBRATESchalke and Hertha Berlin enjoyed moraleboosting victories in their battles against relegationLastplaced Schalke defeated Stuttgart 21 at home for its first win since November and third of the seasonAlso readUEFA Champions League Borussia Dortmund beats slumping Chelsea 10Dominick Drexler got the home team off the mark in the 10th and Marius Buumllter produced a wonderful finish for the second goalBorna Sosa capitalized on a mistake from goalkeeper Ralf Faumlhrmann to pull one back midway through the second half but Schalke managed to survive a nervy finish The Gelsenkirchenbased team drew its previous four games all 00Hertha climbed out of the relegation zone with a 20 win over Augsburg in snowy conditions in the capitalFlorian Niederlechner started against his former team for Hertha which reportedly had to pay Augsburg more money for the privilege following his winter transfer between the clubsMarco Richter broke the deadlock with a shot from distance in the 61st and nine minutes later Dodi Lukebakio sealed what was only Herthas fifth win of the seasonAlso Leipzig held on to beat Eintracht Frankfurt 21 Cologne lost at home to Wolfsburg 20 and Werder Bremen enjoyed a 30 win over BochumThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever