Borussia Dortmund returned to winning ways 2-0 at Union Berlin on Saturday to keep fourth place in the Bundesliga in a duel with RB Leipzig who triumphed 4-1 in Bochum.
Dortmund rebounded from a painful 3-2 home defeat against Hoffenheim from Karim Adeyemi in the 41st and Ian Maatsen in the 90th.
That made them stay fourth, one point ahead of Leipzig who had to play catch-up in Bochum after falling behind from Maximilian Wittek's free-kick.
Dani Olmo levelled, and Lois Openda, an own goal by Ivan Ordets and Yussuf Poulsen then secured victory within a span of minutes minutes between the 68th and 72nd, and Bochum's misery was complete when when Moritz-Broni Kwarteng was dismissed in the closing stages, 14 minutes after coming on.
Dortmund are three points behind VfB Stuttgart who are at Wolfsburg in the late game.
Dortmund had trouble getting into the game at Union who have risen into midfield after a disastrous start into the season, and it took 35 minutes until they got a first chance from Nico Schlotterbeck.
The lead came six minutes later from Adeyemi whose shot into the top left corner went in off the bar.
Union fought back but Kevin Volland and Yorbe Vertessen were denied by goalkeeper Alexander Meyer before Maatsen wrapped up matters late on the counter.
"We took up the fight and had control after some initial struggles. Everyone was fighting," Meyer, who stood in again for injured Gregor Kobel, told Sky TV.
Having beaten champions Bayern Munich in their last home game, Bochum also drew first blood against Leipzig from Wittek's seventh minute free-kick, with goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi not looking good.
Leipzig were level after half an hour from Dani Olmo's blast into the top corner, and second half substitutes Openda and Poulsen then made the difference.
Openda scored for 2-1 in the 68th, Ordets deflected Xavi Simons into his own net in the 71st, and Poulsen tapped in Xavi's cross another minute later past Andreas Luthe, who was between the Bochum posts for the first time since autumn 2015 after returning in January.
"It was a good victory. We dropped a few points lately and the three points do us good," Poulsen said.
Elsewhere, rampant Augsburg hit five in the opening 29 minutes en route to a 6-0 triumph at bottom club Darmstadt, with Phillip Tietz and Ermedin Demirovic getting a brace each.
Eintracht Frankfurt prevailed 2-1 at Heidenheim, with their opener a freak own goal from Benedikt Gimber whose backpass took an unexpected bounce right in front of goalkeeper Kevin Müller and went in.
Ten-man Mainz in second last had to settle for a 1-1 draw with Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Bayern were held 2-2 at Freiburg on Friday which means that unbeaten Bayer Leverkusen can stretch their lead to 10 points with victory at regional rivals Cologne on Sunday. The other Sunday game is Hoffenheim v Werder Bremen.
