LEIPZIG, Germany - Xavi Simons and Lois Openda were on target as RB Leipzig snapped their four-match winless streak in the Bundesliga with a 2-0 home victory over Borussia Dortmund on Saturday, boosting their hopes of finishing in the top four.
The win moved Leipzig up to fifth in the table on 42 points after 26 games, level with fourth-placed Eintracht Frankfurt, who travel to VfL Bochum on Sunday. The top four teams in Germany qualify for the Champions League.
Leipzig shot out of the blocks and had a number of chances early on, with Openda rattling the crossbar from close range, while Dortmund goalkeeper Gregor Kobel did well to keep out shots from Simons and David Raum.
Dortmund did not heed the many warnings they were given, and Simons opened the hosts' account in the 18th minute, lashing home a rebound after Kobel had once again denied left back Raum.
Karim Adeyemi nearly equalized for Dortmund on the stroke of halftime when he latched onto a long ball over the top and sent a low shot towards the bottom corner, but Leipzig goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi made an excellent sprawling save.
Leipzig doubled their lead after the interval through Openda, who was left unmarked at the far post from a corner and showed excellent technique to volley Simons' delivery into the net in the 48th minute.
Dortmund responded well to the second goal and did their best to fight their way back into the contest, but were thwarted time and again by Gulacsi, who made several fine saves.
The best of those came in the 63rd minute after Adeyemi had played Serhou Guirassy through on goal, with Gulacsi racing off his line to deny the Guinea international a 15th league goal of the season.
Dortmund, who have had a dreadful league campaign so far, dropped into 11th place after their 11th league defeat of the season.
Defender Nico Schlotterbeck was pessimistic when discussing Dortmund's chances of qualifying for European football next season, telling Sky Sports: "It's difficult. It's almost impossible.
"The chances are very slim right now. We'll try our best, of course. After the international break, we have to attack somehow."
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The defeat was a harsh return to reality for Niko Kovac's team, who on Wednesday earned a Champions League quarterfinal spot with a 2-1 win at Lille for a 3-2 aggregate victory.
To make matters worse, Dortmund also lost midfielder Marcel Sabitzer early in the second half, with the Austria international limping off the pitch with an apparent knee injury.
