Holstein Kiel 4-2 Dortmund (January 14, 2025) Game Analysis

Fighting Holstein Kiel scored three times in a dominant first half but had to survive a late comeback from Borussia Dortmund before beating the visitors 4-2 on Tuesday, a second consecutive Bundesliga loss for the Ruhr Valley.

The result saw Dortmund, who had also lost 3-2 to Bayer Leverkusen on Friday, drop to eighth in the standings while putting more pressure on already tough coach Nuri Sahin.

Dortmund, who next face third place Eintracht Frankfurt Friday in the league, travel to Bologna next week in the Champions League.

“When players think they are special … then it is embarrassing, shameful and undignified to represent the yellow black colors like that,” said Dortmund sporting director Lars Ricken. “The first half was shameful.”

Ricken backed the coach and said there was no reason to have any discussion about his future at the club.

“This is a discussion we absolutely do not need to have now,” Ricken said. “We will fly to Frankfurt and then make the team responsible for winning at least that game.”

The hosts struck twice in five minutes to shock Dortmund Shuto Machino fire them into the lead in the 27th minute before Phil Harris headed in from close range for his fifth goal in the last three league games.

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Dortmund, who had a dozen players and staff down with a flu virus in recent days, with some ruled out on Tuesday, were sluggish in the first half despite having far more possession.

But they had little to offer in terms of attack after an early chance.

It got even worse for Dortmund with 22-year-old Harres, who has netted seven times in the league this season, delivering a perfectly chipped pass to Alexander Bernhardsson to drill their third goal deep into first half stoppage time.

Dortmund left their comeback to late with Gio Reyna reducing the deficit in the 71st minute with a shot from the edge of the box and Jamie Gittens curled in a superb effort to make it 3-2 in the 78th to give his side some hope.

Kiel went down to 10 men after substitution Lewis Holtby was sent off for a bad challenge.

Dortmund surged forward, including the keeper Gregor Kobelin search of an equalizer in stoppage time, but it was Kiel who struck again.

Fiete Arp scored into an empty net from 45 meters out with the last kick of the game, sealing their first ever win over Dortmund.

Kiel, who have won two of their last three games, are in 17th place.