The Borussia Dortmund lost away to Hannover 96 on Saturday with a score of 4-2, which means they say goodbye to the leadership of the Bundesliga, which will later be disputed by Bayern Munich and Leipzig.
Bayern only needs a draw to become the leader, while Leipzig needs a victory.
The match between Dortmund and Hannover was a duel between two styles, with Dortmund completely focused on offense and Hannover playing with a solid defense and looking for counterattack opportunities.
In the end, four counterattacks defined the match against a Dortmund team that fought until the end despite being reduced to ten men due to the expulsion of Dan-Axel Zagadou in the 59th minute.
Hannover opened the scoring in the 28th minute with a penalty converted by Jonathas, which resulted from a foul by goalkeeper Roman Bürki against Felix Klaus.
The play that originated the penalty was similar to those that generated the other Hannover goals: ball recovery in their own half, quick advance, and Dortmund, with their lines too far forward, without any chance to react.
Zagadou equalized in the 28th minute with a left-footed shot inside the box. In the 40th minute, Ihlas Bebou made the second goal from Jonathas' cross in a play that originated from Klaus' ball recovery in their own half.
Dortmund came back with a stunning volley goal by Andriy Yarmolenko in the 55th minute, but just four minutes later, an action punished Dortmund doubly.
A long pass left Jonathas close to the area facing Zagadou as the last man, and he had no other option but to bring down the opponent, resulting in a direct red card.
Then, to compound Dortmund's problems, Klaus took the free-kick and scored with a perfect shot over the wall.
Dortmund, with ten men, had opportunities to achieve the draw, but the sentence came in the 86th minute when Bebou scored the fourth goal.
Saturday's match once again showed Dortmund's problems against counterattacks, which had already caused them trouble in other matches.
With this victory, Hannover climbed to fourth place and benefited from Hoffenheim's home defeat against Borussia Mönchengladbach.