Fullkrug twists the knife as stoppage-time header wrecks Dortmund's perfect Bundesliga start
Niclas Fullkrug came back to haunt Borussia Dortmund with a stoppage-time header, salvaging a 2-2 draw for Werder Bremen and ending the hosts' 100% start to the Bundesliga season in the most dramatic fashion on Friday night.
Daniel Svensson and Nico Schlotterbeck had appeared to settle the contest with two quickfire goals late on, but Ludovit Reis and Fullkrug struck even later to leave Signal Iduna Park stunned and hand Niko Kovac's previously flawless side their first blemish of the campaign.
Slow burn before late fireworks
Both sides made a slow start to a game that took its time to ignite. Reis had the first clear-cut chance of the first half when he drilled narrowly wide just after the half-hour mark, before Marcel Sabitzer flashed a free-kick past the post and Maximilian Beier forced a smart sprawling stop out of Karl Hein from a tight angle on the right of the box.
Ethan Nwaneri also called Hein into action just after the break, while at the other end Fullkrug volleyed a bouncing clearance from the goalkeeper against Gregor Kobel's outstretched leg. Dortmund continued to turn the screw, and Serhou Guirassy saw a glancing header cleared off the line before Nwaneri's acrobatic overhead kick thundered in off the near post — only to be chalked off for a foul in the build-up.
Dortmund strike twice in five minutes
The hosts eventually got their breakthrough in the 80th minute. A lightning-quick counter-attack saw Guirassy skip down the right before pulling the ball back into the box, where Fabio Silva helped it onto Svensson, who rifled a first-time finish into the roof of the net.
Five minutes later, Dortmund doubled their lead as Schlotterbeck nodded a towering header past Hein, who claimed he was being impeded — but the goal survived a VAR check.
Werder's late, late show
Just when the points looked safe, Dortmund's deficit was halved three minutes later after Oskar Wojcik intercepted a loose pass and Reis weaved into the box before firing past Kobel. And in the second minute of stoppage time, Fullkrug delivered the decisive blow: he timed his run perfectly on a Marco Grull free-kick and flicked his header over Kobel to salvage a point.
The numbers behind the collapse
The game was a slow burn, with few chances to shout about in the first half, but it sparked to life after the break. Of Dortmund's 21 shots, 16 came after the interval, with Werder firing nine of their 11 attempts at Kobel's goal in that same period. Kovac's side accumulated 2.42 expected goals (xG), with their opponents over-performing their 1.13 xG.
Schlotterbeck led the home side's attack, registering a joint-game-high four shots — level with Sabitzer — while his 23 final-third entries were bettered only by Werder's Waldemar Anton (31).
Fullkrug makes history against his former club
It was fittingly a former Black and Yellow who came back to haunt Dortmund. Fullkrug has now scored in four consecutive Bundesliga matches for the first time in his career, taking his tally to five goals since his return to Werder.
Kovac had played down the threat posed by the in-form striker ahead of the game, telling reporters before the match, in comments reported on October 9: "He feels at home there and will naturally be motivated to play against his former team-mates. But it's not just about him. There are 10 other players on the field we have to deal with. We have to impose our style of play, and it doesn't matter who's playing on the other side."
What it means for the table
It has been an impressive start to the 2026-27 season for Dortmund, who remain unbeaten and top of the Bundesliga, but these two dropped points will feel like a defeat to Kovac. Werder, who sat eighth after their first four matches, showed why they have also made a strong start to the campaign.
Dortmund are now three points clear at the top of the Bundesliga table ahead of the rest of the weekend's action, opening the door for Bayern Munich to close the gap on Saturday.