On other weekends, it would have been a cause for glumness. Yet even in falling a place below bitter rivals Schalke, from second to third, it felt as if it had been a fairly successful day for Borussia Dortmund. They emerged from Saturday evening’s Topspiel at RB Leipzig not only with a point – and having maintained a three-point lead over their hosts in the race for Champions League qualification – but with the satisfying feeling of having put in a shift.

They can be few things that their coach, Peter Stöger, cherishes as much as this. Many may still feel he was fortunate to get this post after his sacking by the bottom club, Cologne, but he has not hesitated to put his stamp on the side. Having criticised their lack of combativeness in recent matches – and particularly after the lucky draw at Atalanta that took BVB through to Thursday’s Europa League last-16 tie against Salzburg – this performance was exactly what Stöger was after.



There is, as Kicker wrote on Sunday, a “rarity value to Dortmund collecting more yellow cards than the other side” after the visitors received four cautions to Leipzig’s zero, and the feeling was it was more than just statistical trivia. “As well as their kit,” Thomas Hennecke wrote: “Stöger’s XI had their combat suits in their luggage this time.” Stöger underlined his pleasure with his team’s display by praising their “body language” and aggression.



It was also a mark of his growing authority. Not only had Dortmund played as Stöger wanted them to but they appeared to have done so in direct response to his recent criticisms. After last Monday’s 1-1 draw with Augsburg, in which his team lost the lead and the chance to isolate themselves in second place, he had slated his side’s second-half efforts as “nothing like what you had hoped for in terms of temperament and drive”, which, he said, was “totally beyond my understanding”.



He did not, it seems, need to ask twice. This was a really engaged Dortmund, who reacted well after Leipzig took a first-half lead, exemplary in both the final pass from Naby Keïta and the smooth finish past Roman Bürki by Jean-Kévin Augustin. The home side, as their coach, Ralph Hasenhüttl, acknowledged afterwards, needed this win more and played like it, forcing BVB to defend well, particularly in the first half. Behind a defence led by Manuel Akanji and Omer Toprak, Bürki was tidy and composed.

Dortmund only had four efforts at goal in the whole game but they used their moments well. Mo Dahoud, enjoying perhaps his best game since arriving at the club, created a sublime equaliser for Marco Reus – in a way, this engaging game was a story of two sublime final passes – and they could even have taken maximum points had Michy Batshuayi not been wrong-footed right in front of goal from another excellent Dahoud delivery.



This was a Dortmund performance that would simply not have been possible under Peter Bosz. On the first occasion these teams met this season, back in October, Dortmund had all the chances at Westfalen and frittered them, a profligacy only matched by their shambolic defending (which, of course, hindsight tells us was about to get worse). Under Stöger, Dortmund have conceded only eight in 10 Bundesliga games, so it’s little wonder those upstairs are happy with him.



The Austrian has given them a decision to make. His personality fits well with Dortmund’s perceived heartfelt, working-man values, though making a medium-term commitment to this sort of no-frills footballing approach will be a big decision. All sides, probably, hope that his defensive nous coupled with the richly gifted front four of Batshuayi, Reus, Mario Götze and the revitalised André Schürrle will find a route to happiness between them. The club are already beginning contract talks with Reus, who has less than 18 months left on his deal, but it would be at least a minor surprise if he jumped ship after Dortmund stuck with him through his injury problems.

There are other items on Dortmund’s agenda; with Roman Weidenfeller retiring another goalkeeper is needed but the question – as Ruhr Nachrichten points out – is whether to get a “clear number two” for Bürki or a potential challenger for a goalkeeper whose form has oscillated wildly this season. Frankly, the upcoming availability of Eintracht Frankfurt’s Lukas Hradecky, who will be out of contract in July, has not gone unnoticed.

All personnel items, however, will pale in significance to who is leading Dortmund from the bench next season. All that is clear for now is that Stöger couldn’t be doing much more to make his pitch.

Talking points

• Bayern Munich moved 20 points clear with Sunday’s 4-0 win at Freiburg; an exercise in frustration at the state of the title race, or lack thereof, for some but this was more than a stroll. It was a Bayern who were equally compelled and compelling, in what Jupp Heynckes called “one of our best performances of the season” at opponents who had only lost one home Bundesliga game before. Corentin Tolisso’s piledriver from range was the standout goal, the result of intensive practice with coach Peter Hermann, he told reporters afterwards.

• Somebody who doesn’t need finishing coaching is Claudio Pizarro, with the 39-year-old scoring his first for Cologne – and 192nd in the Bundesliga overall – in fine style. It should have paved the way for the bottom side to beat Stuttgart in a strong first-half display but they managed to shoot themselves in the foot again, converting a 1-0 lead in the 45th minute into a half-time deficit. The coach, Stefan Ruthenbeck, and his staff focused their ire on the officials at full time but the devastated players, led by the goalkeeper Timo Horn, knew the wounds were self-inflicted.

Cologne’s Claudio Pizarro (left) celebrates with his team-mate Vincent Koziello after opening the scoring against Stuttgart. Photograph: Rolf Vennenbernd/AP

• A rather happier goalkeeper was the 20-year-old Florian Müller, making his debut in goal for Mainz in the light of injuries to René Adler and Robin Zentner, and earning his team a vital point at Hamburg, for whom the prospect of a first-ever relegation looms large after failing to beat their rivals at the bottom. Müller’s saves included a penalty stop from Filip Kostic in a display described as “amazing” by his coach, Sandro Schwarz, and which kept his third-bottom team seven points ahead of HSV and eight clear of Cologne.

• Eintracht Frankfurt make up the top four after a fourth straight home win, beating Hannover, with Bayer Leverkusen hot on their tails after winning at struggling Wolfsburg. Lucas Alario opened the scoring for Leverkusen from the spot – a sixth successful penalty in a row after missing nine of 16 last term.

• A gold star, too, for Andrej Kramaric. The Croatian’s excellent headed opener for Hoffenheim at Augsburg made it five consecutive goalscoring games for him, edging Julian Nagelsmann’s team closer to the European places during a season in which their spine has been taken away.