Borussia Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel admits his side showed a 'dramatic' drop in performance in a shock 3-1 defeat at Hamburg on Friday that dented their Bundesliga title chances.

Goals from Pierre-Michel Lasogga, Lewis Holtby and a Mats Hummel own-goal put hosts Hamburg 3-0 up before Gabon striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang netted a late consolation for Dortmund, his 15th goal in 13 league games.

The win saw Hamburg move up to eighth, but defeat leaves second-placed Dortmund facing the prospect of finishing the weekend eight points behind leaders Bayern Munich if they beat Schalke on Saturday.

The start of Friday's game was delayed for safety reasons, adding to the tension just three days after a bomb scare caused Germany's friendly with the Netherlands in Hanover to be postponed and a week after the Paris terror attacks.

Tuchel slammed his side for a poor first-half display which left them 2-0 down at the break.

"Especially in the first half, the difference between our usual standards, how we perform as a team, and reality was dramatic," fumed Tuchel.

"We deserved to be punished for it.

"I have no explanation for it, but it was obvious from the first minute that we lacked the necessary body language and attitude.

"It wasn't the performance we imagined and we also didn't see it coming.

"It was far too little to achieve a good result in the Bundesliga.

"There was no indication beforehand. We were very diligent and worked hard in the international break.

"Even during the final training session today (Friday) or during the team meeting, there was no hint of such a performance.

"The lesson is simple: with that body language, with that sort of performance and with so little attention being paid, you're never going to get anything (out of a game)."

Meanwhile, Hamburg coach Bruno Labbadia praised his side's performance.

"Beating Dortmund is never easy. Given the quality of their side we weren't sure of the victory, even at 3-0 up," he added.

Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Burki said the performance was his team's "worst" of the season, surpassing their 5-1 rout at Bayern's Allianz Arena at the start of October.

Defeat in Hamburg ended their seven-match winning streak and defender Marcel Schmelzer said lessons must be learnt.

"We played very badly in the first half and couldn't implement what we had planned," said Schmelzer.

"We didn't move enough in front of their goal and we made individual mistakes.

"It's not enough in the Bundesliga if you don't put in 100 percent and now we need to go away and scrutinise ourselves and calmly analyse what happened."