Dortmund get first win away from home, Bochum first of season

Borussia Dortmund scored three times within six first-half minutes but then had to sweat it out with 10 men before ending their Bundesliga away game curse 3-1 at Wolfsburg on Sunday.

Donyell Malen, Maximilian Beier and Julian Brandt were on target between minutes 25 and 30. Wolfsburg fought back from Denis Vavro in the 58th and Dortmund's Pascal Gross was red carded four minutes later.

But Dortmund prevailed to win away from home for the first time in their seventh league attempt of the season, having previously lost four and drawn two.

They were awarded with a rise to sixth place, tied on points with Mainz ahead of them annd two points off the top four, as they ended the year on a positive note. Wolfsburg are 11th.

"It feels good. We played a great first half. We were very efficient. We wanted to continue that way but it didn't work out. But we won," Beier told.

"We want to do better next year. It can't be our ambition to be sixth."

Bochum get first win

In the other game, bottom club Bochum got their first season victory at last on matchday 15 when they beat fellow strugglers Heidenheim 2-0 from Moritz Broschinski in the sixth minute and Matus Bero in the 38th.

Bochum doubled their season haul to six points after previously managing only three draws. They remain last, two points behind Holstein Kiel, and four off Heidenheim who are in the relegation play-off spot after a ninth defeat from 10 games without victory.

"We have taken the biggest step today after so many failures. I'm absolutely delighted. It's a little pre-Christmas present for all of us at VfL," Broschinski said.

Dortmund on fire early on

Wolfsburg beat Dortmund in the German Cup in autumn but were caught out cold this time around.

Malen was left completely unmarked in the goalmouth to artistically volley home a corner kick for 1-0.

Three minutes later Beier found the bottom left corner off Brandt, who then got the third himself shortly afterwards into the far left corner.

Wolfsburg improve

The hosts showed more determination after the break. Lukas Nmecha was denied by a big save from Gregor Kobel but Vavro then headed them back into the game.

Wolfsburg got a further boost when Gross got his marching orders for a last-man foul on Nmecha. They continued to attack but Kobel also saved a tight angle effort from Tiago Tomas and Mohammed Amoura aimed wide.

Leverkusen next in January

Dortmund held on for victory in the last top flight game of the year, and they will also start the second part of the season on January 10 when they host champions Bayer Leverkusen.

Bayern Munich are hibernating on top four points ahead of Leverkusen. Both claimed big 5-1 victories in their final 2024 games, Bayern against RB Leipzig and Leverkusen against Freiburg.