Borussia Dortmund on Saturday suffered their heaviest home defeat in over a decade after being hammered 5-1 by VfB Stuttgart, AFP reported.
Stuttgart’s winger Silas Wamangituka netted twice in the romp which piled the pressure on fifth-placed Dortmund, who are now five points behind leaders RB Leipzig.
“Things went mercilessly wrong,” admitted Dortmund defender Mats Hummels, as per AFP inputs.
“We shot ourselves in the foot every few minutes.”
Dortmund have taken just a point in their two league games since star striker Erling Braut Haaland was ruled out until January with a hip injury.
Stuttgart’s relentless pressing and Dortmund’s sloppy defending resulted in the visitors scoring four unanswered second-half goals.
“We are not a team that can defend well, that has to be said quite clearly,” fumed Dortmund captain Marco Reus, while coach Lucien Favre admitted it was “a disaster”.
Wamangituka converted a penalty midway through the first half after Dortmund’s Emre Can brought down Mateo Klimowicz.
Just before the break, Dortmund equalised when a belting Raphael Guerreiro long ball picked out Giovanni Reyna, who deftly chipped home.
It was 1-1 at the break, but the floodgates opened in the second period as nearly every Dortmund mistake was punished with a Stuttgart goal.
Guerreiro lost control of the ball on the edge of his penalty area and Wamangituka claimed his second goal eight minutes after the break.
The 21-year-old Congolese forward has seven goals and three assists in 11 games this season.
Midfielder Philip Foerster, in for suspended Stuttgart captain Gonzalo Castro, scored with a perfectly timed run into the area with an hour played.
Jude Belligham’s stray pass was then snapped up by Wamangituka and moved to striker Tanguy Coulibaly, who fired home on 63 minutes.
The VAR ruled out a second Reyna goal late on before a mistake by Dortmund’s Nico Schulz saw Nicolas Gonzalez claim Stuttgart’s fifth goal.
The debacle is Dortmund’s heaviest home defeat since being humbled 5-1 at home to Bayern Munich in 2009.
Fresh from knocking Manchester United out of the Champions League in midweek, RB Leipzig saw off Werder Bremen 2-0 to leapfrog Bayern into top spot in the table.
The victory left Leipzig a point clear of defending champions Bayern, who can regain the first place at FC Union later in Berlin.
Arsenal loanee Matteo Guendouzi scored his first goal for Hertha Berlin in their 1-1 draw at Borussia Moenchengladbach.
Gladbach, who also reached the last 16 of the Champions League in midweek, fought their way back and equalised through Breel Embolo on 70 minutes.
Freiburg ended their nine-match winless run with a 2-0 win over Arminia Bielefeld.
Meanwhile, Cologne stay just above the relegation places after their 1-0 win at second-from-bottom Mainz.