Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund opened up a three-point lead over Bayern Munich after defeating Bayer Leverkusen 3-2 on Sunday evening.
Dortmund were looking to return to winning ways after three consecutive games without victory and they do it without Marco Reus, Lukasz Piszczek and Christian Pulisic.
After a lively start to the encounter, Kai Havertz came the closest to opening the scoring for the visitors in the 23rd minute with a left- footed strike from just outside the box that sailed inches wide of the upright.
However, Lucien Favre’s charges drew first blood on the half-hour mark thanks to defender Dan-Axel Zagadou, who scored with a close range strike inside the box .
Seven minutes later, Kevin Volland levelled matters for Leverkusen with a left-footed strike from outside the box that found the bottom corner.
However, Dortmund restored their lead a minute later as Jadon Sancho netted from close range after being picked out by Abdou Diallo.
Despite being under pressure in the early exchanges of the second stanza, Dortmund got the third goal on the hour-mark courtesy of Mario Gotze, who found the back of the net with an effort from distance.
The visitors pulled a goal back with 15 minutes remaining as Jonathan Tah powered a header into the back of the net to set up a nail-biting final few stages.
However, the Bundesliga leaders were able to hold out until the final whistle to claim three points, while also ending Leverkusen's impressive winning run.