BERLIN — Maximilian Beier scored in the 80th minute to send Borussia Dortmund top of the German Bundesliga table after a hard-fought 1-0 home win over Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday.
In a game lacking clear chances, Jobe Bellingham came off the bench and threaded a clever pass for fellow substitute Beier to score less than a minute later.
The narrow victory was Dortmund’s first in the league since mid-September and took Niko Kovac’s side three points clear atop the Bundesliga table, AFP reported.
Bayern Munich can return to the top of the table with a win at Freiburg on Sunday but will be without coach Vincent Kompany, who is being treated in hospital for a mystery virus after collapsing at training on Friday.
Dortmund had started the season with a run of six straight wins but came into Saturday’s game in a mini slump, having won just one of their past four in all competitions.
The best opportunity of the first-half fell to Serhou Guirassy with 15 minutes gone. The Guinean was one on one with Noah Atubolu but tried a soft chip, which the goalkeeper palmed away.
Just after the break, Guirassy headed a Joey Veerman corner against the bar.
Beier came on for the ineffective Fabio Silva with 22 minutes remaining. With 10 minutes left, Beier collected a Bellingham pass and curled in the winner from just inside the box.
It was the second time in four league games Beier was the only scorer in a 1-0 Dortmund win.
