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Dortmund save blushes with comeback draw against lowly Paderborn

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Borussia Dortmund staged a spirited comeback against last-placed Paderborn on Friday, scoring three times in the second half to avoid yet another humiliating setback.

With the hosts buzzing around goal, Marco Reus buried the equalizer in the 92nd minute to end the frenetic match 3-3.

Dortmund manager Lucien Favre was already on the hot seat after a chastening 4-0 defeat to Bayern Munich on Nov. 9. His players bailed him out on this occasion, erasing Paderborn's 3-0 halftime advantage with a whirlwind performance in the final 45 minutes.

The draw leaves Dortmund fifth in the Bundesliga table and five points behind league leaders Borussia Monchengladbach, who face Union Berlin on Saturday.

"We can never play like that again," Reus told DAZN. "It was an absolutely poor performance and we are ashamed. We apologize to all our fans."

Just five minutes in, Paderborn striker Streli Mamba stunned the 80,000 in attendance at Signal Iduna Park, finishing off a lightning-quick counter in front of the infamous Yellow Wall.

Mamba doubled the lead with an equally opportunistic finish in the 37th minute, burning Dortmund midfielder Julian Weigl in a foot race before sweeping home.

When Gerrit Holtmann made it 3-0, the fans turned restless.

Favre was forced into making a change before halftime - Paco Alcacer came off with an injury - but it was time to shake it up anyway. Achraf Hakimi and Thorgan Hazard emerged from the tunnel after the interval, and Dortmund began to play with more urgency.

Jadon Sancho struck just two minutes into the second half, and after a dominant spell in Paderborn's end, Axel Witsel stirred hopes with a clinical header in the 84th minute. Reus completed the comeback at the death with an emphatic header of his own.

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