BERLIN — Borussia Dortmund captain Marco Reus apologized to angry fans and blasted what he called a "shameful" first-half performance from his side on Friday.
Reus scored in injury time to salvage a 3-3 draw against last-placed Paderborn, but it wasn’t enough to stop irate supporters raging against the players.
Dortmund was three goals down and heading for a second consecutive defeat following its 4-0 loss at Bayern Munich before the international break, before Jadon Sancho scored one and set up Reus’ equalizer after Axel Witsel scored.
"I have no explanation for the first half. No idea what we did there. It was shameful. We must never, ever play like that again," Reus told broadcaster DAZN.
Dortmund, which started the season with Bundesliga title ambitions, looked far from capable of sustaining a challenge after dropping points for the seventh time in 12 games.
Coach Lucien Favre is coming under increasing pressure, but Reus defended the Swiss tactician and laid all the blame on his teammates.
"We have to speak about it, there’s no other way," Reus said. "We didn’t just escape with a blue eye — we were really socked. The coach sets us up super. We’re the ones responsible for delivering our performance."
Streli Mamba stunned the home supporters with Paderborn’s opener in the fifth minute, finishing off a counterattack that began with a Dortmund corner. Kai Pröger outpaced Germany defender Nico Schulz on the right and crossed for Mamba’s simple finish.
Mamba grabbed his second goal on another counterattack in the 37th, prompting a chorus of whistles from the home fans, and it got even worse from a Dortmund point of view when Gerrit Holtmann fired through Roman Burki’s legs to make it 3-0 in the 43rd.
Paco Alcacer hobbled off before halftime, adding to Dortmund’s woes. Lucien Favre, who already sent on Julian Brandt for the injured Alcacer, reacted with two changes at the break, sending on Thorgan Hazard and Achraf Hakimi for the off-colour Schulz and Mahmoud Dahoud.
Sancho pulled one back in the 47th, with Hakimi and Brandt both involved in the buildup.
But Dortmund was looking increasingly desperate and Mamba came close to completing a hat trick before Witsel finally scored the next goal in the 84th.
Sancho profited from a poor clearance to set up Reus in the 92nd.
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