Eighteen seconds went by — and this game turned on its head.
Sandro Wagner, with the chance to put 10-man Borussia Dortmund to bed, slammed against the post. Moments later and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was flying through at the other end to equalise.
Dortmund leave Hoffenheim with a point, while the hosts keep their unbeaten record – and both teams will need to catch their breath.
In a Friday-night display of how relentless the Bundesliga can be, the entertainment was laid on in heaps. Hoffenheim took the lead through Mark Uth, Mario Gotze equalised; Wagner restored the lead before Aubameyang levelled the game again.
And that is even without mentioning the first-half dismissal of Marco Reus – the first of his 209-game Bundesliga career – and a scintillating display from Ousmane Dembele, who unfortunately left the field on a stretcher late on.
Hoffenheim are the only unbeaten team left in the Bundesliga but perhaps, given their lightning-quick start to this entertaining game, 29-year-old manager Julian Nagelsmann may have hoped to do more than add to the eight draws they had from 14 league games coming into this fixture.
The Thomas Tuchel prodigy’s side have developed a reputation of being somewhat cautious – only winning twice this season with a margin of more than one goal in the Bundesliga – but they began with a wholly different attitude.
It took just two minutes for them to take the lead, catching Dortmund cold with a route-one move down the left.
Benjamin Hubner picked up the ball along the touchline inside his own half and span a speculative lofted pass forward. Dortmund hesitated for a second, and with that came the mistake that cost them the opener.
Uth sped beyond the backline, Matthias Ginter the man marking him onside, and as Roman Weidenfeller stepped up into no man’s land he was easily rounded before the ball was rolled into an empty net.
It sent a bolt of energy into Dortmund, at least.
Marcel Schmelzer escaped his marker inside the penalty area and headed wide while Aubameyang sent a shot askew as he failed to get a solid connection on the end of a Reus ball across the edge of the box.
Within all that madness, Reus picked up a cheap booking for an innocuous foul – it would come to cost him later.
Dortmund levelled deservedly on 10 minutes: Dembele scampered through three challenges in a driving run through the Hoffenheim half and, just when it looked like the ball had escaped him on the edge of the area, squared to Gotze.
He finished smartly into the corner.
Hoffenheim were back in the lead on 20 minutes though, Wagner feathering in the faintest of touches to befuddle Weidenfeller as he went to save Hubner’s initial header at a corner.
Dembele was continuing to prove an evasive nuisance as the hosts struggled to deal with him. But it was a struggle with another usually quick-thinking forward which harmed Dortmund’s hopes.
Reus had tracked back to deal with the threat of Nadiem Amiri and the pair both had a grip on shirts as they fought for the ball. Amiri was first to fall; referee Benjamin Brand took it as he saw it and showed Reus red.
It looked somewhat harsh on television replays, but in truth the Germany international was unwise to get involved in such a battle having already been cautioned.
Hoffenheim went in level at the break and then three minutes later those decisive seconds came.
Wagner really should have scored as he met a cross at the near post — only to hammer it into the woodwork — and from there Dortmund broke in a blur.
It ended with Dembele, running with the ball before sending Aubameyang through and the Gabon striker duly dinked over Oliver Baumann to equalise.
Sadly, 19-year-old Dembele had to be withdrawn later as he left the field on a stretcher having suffered an injury. Tuchel later revealed the problem was just down to some heavy bruising — Dortmund will be relieved.
With that spark gone, Hoffenheim looked the more likely winners and Jeremy Toljan should have had a penalty after twice being clipped inside the area only to see the referee wave away his claims.
Leicester City reject Andrej Kramaric shot straight at Weidenfeller with a minute to go when he could have decided it, but in truth neither of these teams deserved to leave without reward.
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