Borussia Dortmund's women's football team suffered a narrow 3-2 (2-1) loss in a friendly match against Regionalliga side Bayer 04 Leverkusen. Marie Grothe's early goal and Mandy Reinhardt's equaliser to make it 2-2 in the 80th minute proved too little in the end.

The Borussia women faced a tough test at the Kurtekotten performance centre in Cologne late on Friday evening (19:00 CET). Thomas Sulewski's BVB team faced Bayer 04 Leverkusen, who are currently second in the Regionalliga West.

Leverkusen got off to the better start and immediately gained control of the game. It took the Black & Yellows a few minutes to settle into the match. Leverkusen's open, high-risk style of play created numerous spaces for Sulewski's team. After eleven minutes, Merle Greulich launched a counter-attack and set up Marie Grothe, who finished beautifully into the top corner to give BVB a 1-0 lead. But the Werkself didn't take long to respond: striker Chiara Kaiser netted the equaliser in the 21st minute after a long ball in behind the defence. As the game progressed, Bayer took command. Again it was Kaiser who scored after a solo run in the 42nd minute to open up a 2-1 lead for the home side.

In the second half, the Black & Yellows had more control thanks to a few tactical changes and were able to carve out more chances. In the 80th minute, Mandy Reinhardt drew the two teams level at 2-2 after pouncing on a rebound in the penalty area. But Leverkusen seized the initiative again in the final minutes, and they were rewarded when Nadia Marin scored the all-important winning goal in the 90th minute to make it 3-2.

Nevertheless, BVB coach Thomas Sulewski was upbeat after the final whistle: "Overall, I'm satisfied, it was a decent test. The girls gave a huge effort. We saw that we can go toe-to-toe with teams that play at a higher level."

BVB women: Jäger (61, Kölmel) – Jung, Glänzer (31, Haslsteiner), Klemann (46, Glänzer), Tayeh (77, Kuhl) – Becker (31, Bedarf), Gomulka (61, Becker) – Grothe, Greulich, Kuhl (61, Naceva) – Naceva (31, Reinhardt)

Goals: 0-1 Grothe (11), 1-1 Kaiser (21), 1-2 Kaiser (42), 2-2 Reinhardt (80), 2-3 Marin (90)