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Each season, Borussia Dortmund puts up a valiant effort only to see Bayern Munich pull away atop the Bundesliga in Germany. It has been the story for the last decade since Dortmund won the league in 2012, but, for a while, this season felt different. We're in April and the club has been keeping pace with Bayern, and even saw their opponent opt for a managerial shift as Thomas Tuchel took over the Bavarians following the firing of Julian Nagelsmann. But against a 10-man Stuttgart, Dortmund's defensive woes came back to bite them in a remarkable 3-3 draw.

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Twenty3

The result looks even worse in light of the fact that Bayern couldn't get the job done against a struggling Hoffenheim side, continuing a woeful week where they lost 3-0 to Manchester City in the Champions League and then suspended Sadio Mane for an altercation with Leroy Sane after the match. Edin Terzic knows that his team has to be perfect to win the title, but defensively it has been a tall task for the Black and Yellow this season.

Heading into halftime ahead by two goals and up a man, it seemed like Dortmund would be able to close the gap atop the league drawing level with Bayern. That feeling was only strengthened when the team made it to the 70th minute still ahead by a two goals despite Stuttgart having some half chances. Then chaos ensued thanks to defensive mistakes.

All it took was five minutes and the match was level leaving Dortmund now in search of a late winner. Those haven't been an issue for them with the options that they have on the bench and it seemed like they would yet again escape their own mistakes as American Gio Reyna put the Black and Yellow ahead 3-2 deep into stoppage time. 

Reyna hasn't had a defined role, not even logging 90 minutes in the past month for the club, but in big moments Dortmund has been able to trust him to shoot with confidence. The 93rd minute goal was his sixth of the Bundesliga season in only 532 minutes played. Leading so late in the match, against a side who were still down to ten men, it should've been a time where Dortmund locked up the result and went level at the top of the table, but they didn't. Errors like the one that followed are the reasons why nobody has challenged Bayern in years.

In the 97th minute of play, Stuttgart, who, again, were playing down a man for an hour at this point, drew level as Dortmund's defense just couldn't clear the ball out of their own area following a cross. It capped off a 20 minute spell that saw the two clubs score four combined goals but obviously Dortmund would've preferred a tamer finish.

This could've been a season of glory for the team but when games should be over, they can't help but let teams back into things. It's a question that Terzic must answer sooner than later or it may be time for a change. Dortmund has the resources to compete with Bayern but until they can build a mentality to match, they'll continue to be second best in the Bundesliga.