Borussia Dortmund captain Marco Reus equalised in added time to salvage a 3-3 draw at home to Bundesliga bottom side Paderborn as Friday’s shock result left Dortmund coach Lucien Favre under pressure.
Dortmund, who face Barcelona away on Wednesday in the Champions League, were 3-0 down at half-time at Signal Iduna Park and out-played before launching a second-half fight back.
“We have to apologise to our fans for that performance, especially in the first-half,” said a visibly shaken Reus.
“We can never play like that again at home, it was really s***. It’s not on.
“I have no idea what that was all about from us in the first-half.”
Paderborn striker Streli Mamba ran riot with two goals in the opening 45 minutes before winger Gerrit Holtmann grabbed the visitor’s third just before the break.
It was a different story in the second-half as England winger Jadon Sancho gave Dortmund hope before Axel Witsel, then Reus both headed late goals to poach a point.
The draw leaves Dortmund fifth in the table, but they could finish the weekend eight points behind leaders Borussia Moenchengladbach, who are at mid-table FC Union Berlin on Saturday.
Having been drubbed 4-0 away at Bayern Munich before the international break, Dortmund were guilty of woeful defending in the first-half to put Favre in a precarious position.
Hosts Dortmund were behind with five minutes gone when Paderborn winger Kai Proeger out-sprinted, then rode the tackle of Germany international Nico Schulz on the right flank.
With the Dortmund defence shredded, Proeger passed inside for Mamba to tap home and silence home fans.
In response Dortmund pushed forward, but were punished for defending high up the pitch when Paderborn forward Ben Zolinski lifted the ball over the defence.
Mamba outsprinted Germany defender Julian Weigl to fire Paderborn 2-0 up on 37 minutes.
The visitor’s third goal came two minutes before the break when Dortmund’s Belgium Axel Witsel lost possession and Holtmann sprinted clear of Weigl to fire past home goalkeeper Roman Buerki.
Stunned Dortmund trudged off at half-time to a chorus of whistles from their fans.
Their CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke, watching in the stands, looked far from happy after such a weak display from his star-studded squad.
Favre reacted by bringing on the attack-minded trio of Julian Brandt, Thorgan Hazard and Achraf Hakimi for the second-half.
Dortmund flew out of the blocks with Sancho firing home to make it 3-1 just two minutes after the break when Reus had won back possession.
Paderborn were still causing the hosts problems and Mamba came within a whisker of grabbing his hat-trick, firing wide on 67 minutes.
With the final whistle approaching, Dortmund defender Mats Hummels hooked the ball across goal for Witsel to header home before Reus spared his side’s blushes with the equaliser right at the end.
