Bayern Munich 4-2 Borussia Dortmund: Match statistics
Robert Lewandowski and Jerome Boateng reacted to Erling Haaland's stunning start to Der Klassiker in very different ways.
Lewandowski's response was rapid, with the Bayern Munich ace cancelling out the Dortmund forward's early double by the break.
Boateng, though, bided his time before taking Haaland out of the game with a crude rake down the back of the Norwegian's right foot early in the second half.
The Bayern defender's intervention was arguably even more influential than that of Lewandowski.
Haaland had tried to play on after being left with cuts and bruises around his ankle but was forced off just before the hour mark with the game tied at two goals apiece.
Shorn of the services of their star striker, the fulcrum of their attack, Dortmund were robbed of their attacking threat, particularly with Jadon Sancho, Gio Reyna and Raphael Guerreiro having been forced to miss the game at the Allianz Arena through injury.
They retreated into a desperate rearguard action but their resistance was finally broken with two minutes of normal time remaining, when Leon Goretzka volleyed home from the edge of the area.
Lewandowski completed his hat-trick in the dying seconds to give a misleading complexion to a game that was very much in the balance until Haaland's enforced withdrawal.
Dortmund had lost their four previous Bundesliga clashes with Bayern but they were dreaming of a shock victory when their goalscoring sensation struck twice in the opening nine minutes.
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Haaland's first goal arrived after just 74 seconds of play, with the Norway international finding the bottom right corner of Manuel Neuer's goal with a left-footed strike from outside the area that took a slight deflection off Boateng.
His second owed everything to a brilliant BVB breakaway, with Nico Schulz and Thorgan Hazard combining to leave Haaland with a tap-in.
Lewandowski was never going to take that lying down, of course. Even before the game, there had been talk over whether Haaland would eventually replace him as Bayern's No.9.
"A lot of things are possible in life," coach Hansi Flick told Sky. "Nothing can be ruled out. But that is a long way off. Haaland has a long-term contract at Dortmund and is an option for many clubs."
Indeed, right now, Bayern are very happy with what they've got up front. As Haaland himself had admitted during the week, it's even hard for him to keep up with Lewandowski.
"When I score a goal, and get one closer to him," the 20-year-old told Viaplay, "he just scores a hat-trick like it's a normal thing to do!"
And that's exactly what Lewandowski did here.
The prolific Pole, who has now scored a staggering 31 times in 23 Bundesliga appearances this season, halved Bayer's deficit with a simple finish of his own, after good work on the right flank from Leroy Sane, and then he levelled matters in the 44th minute by coolly converting a penalty correctly awarded by VAR for a foul on Kingsley Coman.
The stage was, thus, set for an epic second-half showdown between arguably the two best centre-forwards in the world right now.
But it was brought to an abrupt end by Boateng's intervention.
The centre-half was forced off injured himself later in a one-sided second half with a suspected knee problem but that was of little consolation to either Haaland or Dortmund.
The damage had already been done. Literally.