Yesterday Fortuna Düsseldorf hosted the front-runner Borussia Dortmund
The host side's run of being undefeated almost lasted until the end of the first half of the season, but there was exactly one team who decided against it.
And no, it wasn't the reigning champions from München. Quite the opposite, it was newly promoted Fortuna Düsseldorf who once again proved to be a giant killer.
After having snatched a 3-3 draw from the big Bayern just a few weeks ago, it should now be the undefeated leader of the 1st Bundesliga who had to go to rack and ruin.
Even though Borussia Dortmund entered the Merkur Spiel-Arena with a lot of confidence and with their head held high, the return trip turned out to be quite different then before imagined.
But Düsseldorf appears to feel comfortable in the games against the big names and its players are really thriving on those big days. First there was the visit at RB Leipzig when they could reach a draw and take a point home with them. And then, as I said, there was this big game in München in which Fortuna was already 1-3 behind just to come back with 2 goals shortly before the end.
Because Fortuna has a player who always, when they play the top teams, shows why he was borrowed in summer from the English club Watford FC. At the beginn of the season Dodi Lukebakio was not really convincing in his first appearances for his new employer, but he has recently played his way into the hearts of Düsseldorf fans with some very important goals.
Especially his two goals against Bayern have made him well-known and popular all across the German football world. When the champion fails, the rest of Germany is happy.
And yesterday evening too, Dodi Lukebakio was once again in this special form and mood, since they went against the current number 1 of the German Bundesliga. His leading goal in the 22nd minute was the beginning of the end of Dortmund's streak, and later Jean Zimmer increased to 2-0 at the beginning of the second half. Dortmund's goal scored by top scorer Paco Alcácer came way too late to avoid this first defeat in the current season's point games.
The BVB really seems to be one of Fortuna Düsseldorf's favourite opponents. Against no other team of the Bundesliga they have better match stats, in the 57th duels so far they could claim 23rd victories. That's something other teams have to achieve first against some team like Dortmund.
Back to Dodi Lukebakio, who is now at 7th season goals, after he didn't want to get going at the beginning of his first season in Düsseldorf.
Out of this 7 goals he scored 5 times against other Bundesliga teams who are participating in the Champions League. He doesn't seem to be afraid at all of playing the top names. Quite the contrary, he can finally show what he is actually capable of.
However it would be very fortunate for Fortuna, if Lukebakio could also carry on like this in all the other games against all the other teams. Düsseldorf is still at the bottom of the table and in particular needs to win against its instant competitors to avoid being relegated down to the 2nd Bundesliga again.
Maybe on the weekend against Hannover 96, Fortuna's supporters might be lucky enough to experience another golden day for their team.
Before the deserved winter break finally starts and everyone can recharge their batteries for the challenging and demanding second half.
Nothing lasts forever and every run has to come to an end some day. That's why football is so exciting and also surprising. And the German Bundesliga is showing its best season for quite a while, we really can expect some more than entertaining second half of the season.
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