AP, Berlin :
Arjen Robben’s late penalty gave Bayern Munich a hard-fought 2-1 win over Borussia Dortmund to leave the visitors in the Bundesliga’s relegation zone on Saturday.
Robben converted from the spot in the 85th minute, completing Bayern’s comeback 13 minutes after Robert Lewandowski scored the equalizer against his former side.
Marco Reus gave Dortmund a 31st-minute lead with a header from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s deep cross.
“Of course we’re very happy. We played superbly in the second half. A huge compliment to the team,” Bayern coach Pep Guardiola said.
Bayern, the defending champion, consolidated first place after maintaining its unbeaten start to the season, while Juergen Klopp’s Dortmund is in the relegation playoff place after its fifth defeat in a row.
“The defeat hurts. We didn’t have to lose here,” Klopp said.
Dortmund, the 2011 and 2012 champion, has made its worst start to a season after losing seven of the opening 10 games.
Earlier, Rafael van der Vaart’s first-half penalty earned Hamburger SV a bad-tempered 1-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen to move out of the relegation zone.
The Dutchman converted in the 26th minute, after Omer Toprak was penalized for a push on Marcell Jansen in the area.
Karim Bellarabi came agonizingly close to equalizing deep in injury time when he struck the right post after surging through the Hamburg defense.
Six Hamburg and three Leverkusen players were booked in a hard-fought game punctuated by strong tackles and rising tempers. Both coaches had to be restrained as players, substitutes and coaching staff became embroiled at the end of the first half.
“I never experienced such an intensive and aggressive 45 minutes,” Hamburg defender Heiko Westermann said. “The grass was on fire.”
Hamburg moved two points above Dortmund, which is level on seven points with Werder Bremen, which won 2-1 at Mainz in Viktor Skripnik’s first league game as coach.
His predecessor, Robin Dutt, was sacked with the side bottom last Saturday after failing to win any of its opening nine games.
“I’m thrilled for my guys,” said Skripnik, who won the double as a player with Bremen in 2004.
Also Saturday, Wolfsburg moved provisionally second with a 4-0 rout at Stuttgart, and Hannover beat Eintracht Frankfurt 1-0 thanks to the unfortunate Alexander Madlung’s own goal in the 88th minute.
The late game got off to a frenetic start, with both Bayern and Dortmund creating chances.
Robben brought a good stop from Dortmund keeper Roman Weidenfeller, before Henrikh Mkhitaryan hit the post after a fine run at the other end.
Reus, who is reportedly a transfer target for Bayern, opened the scoring after Thomas Mueller, Robben and Mehdi Benatia all went close for the home side.
Aubameyang played a one-two with Shinji Kagawa, burst through on the right and whipped the ball in over Jerome Boateng for the incoming Reus, who held off Benatia to head inside the left post.
Bayern responded with a spell of incessant pressure only to find Weidenfeller in inspired form.
Dortmund defender Mats Hummels went off at halftime with a foot injury to be replaced by Neven Subotic, and Franck Ribery proved the difference after coming on with 20 minutes remaining.
“If the fans are calling his name I have to bring him on,” joked Bayern coach Pep Guardiola. “He helped us a lot.”
Ribery’s attempted pass for Robben was cleared by Subotic, but only as far as Lewandowski, who fired first time inside the right post.
“Dortmund are still a great team. They’ll come back. I know that at the end of the season they’ll be in the Champions League places,” said Lewandowski, who joined Bayern in the offseason.
Ribery blocked another attempted clearance from Subotic, who attempted to make up for his mistake by pulling the Frenchman back. Ribery fell in the tussle and Robben stepped up to claim what was a deserved winner.
“It was a good first half, clearly a less good second half. In the end we couldn’t hold off the pressure,” Klopp said.
