Soccer Football - Champions League - Group F - Borussia Dortmund v Paris St Germain - Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund, Germany - December 13, 2023 Borussia Dortmund players pose for a team group photo before the match REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay/File Photo
BERLIN (Reuters) -Borussia Dortmund stumbled to a 1-1 draw at Augsburg on Saturday to make it three league games without a win and lose further ground in the Bundesliga title race.
The Ruhr valley club, with just one win in their last seven league matches, are fifth on 26 points, 10 behind leaders Bayer Leverkusen who have a chance to extend their lead when they play Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday.
Champions Bayern Munich, second on 32, host fourth-placed VfB Stuttgart, on 31, on Sunday. RB Leipzig moved into third spot on 32 with a 3-1 victory over Hoffenheim. Leipzig's Emil Forsberg was on target ahead of the Swedish player's Jan. 1 move to New York Red Bulls on a two-year deal.
The league will take a break after next week's action until Jan. 12.
"The result is definitely not enough for us," said Dortmund coach Edin Terzic, who has been under mounting pressure.
"Before the game we had said we wanted and needed the six points from the last two remaining matches of the year."
"We did not manage that today even though we had enough chances to win it. With a 1-1 our situation in the standings has not improved. But I cannot blame the players. We showed that we tried everything to win it," he said.
Ermedin Demirovic put hosts Augsburg in front after beating defender Nico Schlotterbeck for the ball and scoring in the 23rd minute.
Their lead lasted only 12 minutes though, with Donyell Malen combining superbly with Niclas Fuellkrug and drilling in a low shot as Dortmund looked to bounce back from last week's loss to Leipzig.
Improving Augsburg, who have lost just once in their last eight Bundesliga matches under coach Jess Thorup, had three consecutive chances in a strong start to the second half before Dortmund responded with a shot from Fuellkrug that sailed just wide of the post.
Dortmund, who had a string of chances throughout the second half, came agonisingly close to a last-gasp winner when Germany international Fuellkrug spectacularly connected with a Thomas Meunier cross.
But his mid-air volley in the 87th was tipped on to the post by keeper Finn Dahmen, who had also denied Malen a minute earlier.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; editing by Clare Fallon and Hugh Lawson)
