Hamburg vs. Borussia Dortmund: Winners and Losers from Bundesliga Game
Hamburg continued to be Borussia Dortmund's bogey team with a 3-1 home triumph at Volksparkstadion on Friday.
Pierre-Michel Lasogga gave Hamburg the lead in the 19th minute after Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Burki had taken down Hamburg's Ivo Ilicevic inside the area.
Lewis Holtby doubled the home team's advantage just before the break, putting Hamburg on course for just their second Bundesliga win since the end of September.
Dortmund did start the second half brightly; however, any hopes of a comeback disappeared when defender Mats Hummels headed a Holtby corner into his own net.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang pulled a goal back for the visitors, taking his league tally to 15 for the season, but it proved to be no more than a consolation effort.
The result means Dortmund—who missed the chance to close the gap on league leaders Bayern Munich—have now picked up just one point from their last four Bundesliga fixtures against Hamburg.
Here Bleacher Report picks out the winners and losers from the match.
Winner: Lewis Holtby
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Lewis Holtby typified Hamburg's performance: He worked tirelessly without the ball while always looking threatening when in possession.
The former Tottenham player was involved in all three of his side's goals, which explains why WhoScored.com named him their man of the match on Twitter.
After his pass led to Ivo Ilicevic winning Hamburg's penalty that Pierre-Michel Lasogga converted, Holtby scored the second himself, calmly slotting the ball beyond the advancing Roman Burki.
He assisted Hamburg's third too, as his corner from the right was headed into his own net by Mats Hummels.
The home fans deservedly gave Holtby a standing ovation when he was subbed in the 82nd minute.
Loser: Mats Hummels
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Mats Hummels was part of a Borussia Dortmund defence that looked to have more holes than a colander.
A broken line led to them conceding a penalty to fall 1-0 behind, and then a stray pass by right-back Matthias Ginter set up Hamburg's second just before half-time.
Any hopes the visitors had of making a second-half comeback from 2-0 down disappeared when Hummels scored an own goal in the 55th minute.
Trying to deal with Lewis Holtby's corner as he tracked back towards the goal, the Germany international only managed to nod the ball into his own net.
According to Squawka Football on Twitter, "Mats Hummels has now made more defensive errors leading to a goal (3) than any other Bundesliga player this season."
Winner: Bruno Labbadia
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Bruno Labbadia is in his second spell in charge of Hamburg, though had things worked out differently he would never have returned to the club.
Per Sky Sports, Hamburg had been close to appointing Thomas Tuchel in the summer. However, he ended up filling the vacancy at Borussia Dortmund instead.
Therefore Labbadia—who had only beaten Dortmund once before in his managerial career in nine previous meetings—must have enjoyed getting one over the man who nearly took his job.
He set up his side in a formation that while designed to stifle their opponents, always meant they carried a threat in attack.
Ross Dunbar, FoxSoccer's Bundesliga correspondent, tweeted, "Labbadia and Hamburg executed a super game plan—for the first 60-odd mins. Defensive mistakes a serious issue for Dortmund."
Loser: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
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Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang notched his 15th Bundesliga goal of the season, taking him clear of Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski as the competition's leading scorer.
However, his late consolation should not overshadow an otherwise disappointing performance from a forward who Borussia Dortmund have valued at £42 million, according to Bild (h/t Jack de Menezes of the Independent).
Aubameyang wasted a glorious chance to half the deficit straight after the break, sending a lobbed effort wide of the goal.
He also failed to beat Hamburg goalkeeper Rene Adler from six yards after a rebound had fallen perfectly into his path.
The Gabon international did find the target from substitute Adnan Januzaj's pass, while a linesman's flag correctly denied him and Dortmund a second goal in injury time.
Winner: Rene Adler
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Despite their difficulties in defence, Borussia Dortmund could well have left Volksparkstadion with at least a share of the spoils.
The fact they didn't was mainly down to an inspired display from Hamburg goalkeeper Rene Adler.
The Germany international made a string of excellent saves in the second half, including turning away a free-kick from Ilkay Gundogan that bounced just in front of him.
However, Adler's best work came with a triple save in the closing minutes. He denied substitute Gonzalo Castro twice in quick succession, then reacted sharply to stop Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang converting from close range.
Television commentator Derek Rae—who covered the game for BT Sport—tweeted after the game, "Rene Adler having a great season. Showed tonight what a fine keeper he is."
Loser: Bundesliga Title Race
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Bayern Munich really don't need a lot of help in their bid to retain the Bundesliga title—they're doing just fine all by themselves.
However, Hamburg gave them a helping hand with a victory over Borussia Dortmund, who missed the chance to cut the gap to the reigning champions at the top of the table to two points.
Instead, Friday's result means Bayern can now open up an eight-point cushion when they go up against Schalke on Saturday.
That would be a sizeable gap for Dortmund to overturn, even though this is just the 13th round of fixtures in the season.
Considering they have dropped just two points so far in domestic action, Pep Guardiola's Bayern side are threatening to make it less of a title race this year and more of a procession.
