An early Mats Hummels red card doomed Borussia Dortmund and Gio Reyna in a title race loss to RB Leipzig Saturday.
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Hummels red dooms BVBLeipzig win 3-2 in DortmundReyna provides spark off benchGetty ImagesWHAT HAPPENED?
A 15th minute red card to veteran defender Hummels told the story of the match, as Dortmund were left shorthanded for nearly the entirety of the contest. They were in control until the incident, and one would expect such an experienced player to have better decision-making in that moment. Regardless, the Black and Yellows kept driving until the final whistle.
Leipzig opened the scoring in the 32nd minute off a set piece, with Dortmund defender Ramy Bensebaini heading into his own net. Dortmund leveled just before the halftime break in first half stoppage-time through defender Niklas Sule. However, Leipzig obtained the lead again early to start the new half, with Cristoph Baumgartner making it 2-1. Come stoppage-time, madness arrived, as Yussuf Poulsen made it 3-1 only for Dortmund to immediately reply and make it 3-2 with minutes to spare. With less than 60 seconds in the match, Reyna fired from the top of the box into the top corner, only for Janis Blaswich to keep it out with his fingertips.
It was nearly a moment of genius for Reyna, but Dortmund have to look back and think this was a match where points were dropped, considering they stayed in the contest until the final whistle even with 10-men.
AdvertisementTHE BIGGER PICTURE
The commentary team announced that Reyna missed Dortmund's midweek match against Stuttgart in the DFB-Pokal due to a virus, and barely made the bench on Saturday as a result of the sickness. However, the USMNT star earned a late cameo, arriving in the 82nd minute of the match.
Fort Dortmund and Terzic, it's another disappointing showing and their title hopes feel all but gone with the loss – especially on a day where Bayern Munich were thrashed 5-1 by Frankfurt, dropping crucial points as well. For Leipzig, it's an outstanding result that inches them closer to the likes of Leverkusen, Munich and Stuttgart in the table.
Getty ImagesUSMNT IMPACT
Regardless of what happened on Saturday, after the lineup was dropped, U.S. Soccer was once again disappointed. Reyna isn't playing and, simply put, he needs to. One would imagine that a conversation with Gregg Berhalter and his staff has already been had – or will be coming – about potentially pursuing a change of scenery come the January transfer window. If Reyna wants to start in the 2024 Copa America, he needs to be playing regular and consistent minutes at the club level.
GettyGOAL'S RATINGS
Gio Reyna (N/A): It's hard to justify a 13-minute cameo as rating-worthy, especially when Dortmund were down a man and a goal. Regardless, the USMNT midfielder was lively and provided a late spark, it was just a scenario where he and his squad were left shorthanded. The late strike almost had everyone off their feet, but an outstanding save from Blaswich halted the celebrations.