Borussia Dortmund’s poor league form continued with a 2-1 defeat to Hertha Berlin, their third straight home defeat, which threatens to see them finish the weekend outside the automatic Champions League places.

Dortmund took an early lead when captain Sebastian Kehl put through a superb ball for Marco Reus to chase and with his first touch, the Germany winger put his shot past 18-year-old Hertha goalkeeper Marius Gersbeck, who was making his Bundesliga debut.

But Hertha got back on level terms when striker Adrian Ramos hit his 11th goal of the season after Sami Allagui put in a cross for the Colombia forward to convert on 23 minutes.

Tunisia forward Allagui then gave Hertha the lead by pouncing on a mistake by Dortmund’s teenaged centre-back Marian Sarr, rounding Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller and firing into an empty net on the stroke of half-time.

Elsewhere, Santiato Garcia grabbed a dramatic late winner as Werder Bremen defeated secondplace Bayer Leverkusen 1-0.

Shinji Okazaki scored two and created another as Mainz added to Hamburg’s woes with a 3-2 win.

A Torten Oehrl penalty earned Eintracht Braunschweig only their third victory of the season as they beat Hoffenheim 1-0.