Borussia Dortmund kept their unbeaten status in a DFB Cup semi finals for three decades as they manged to sneak in a 3:2 victory against the German champions. The Black and Yellows showed terrific fighting spirit after going 2:1 down in the first half. Thomas Tuchel’s team roared back in the second half as Pierre Emerick Aubameyang and Ousmane Dembele led them to semi final triumph over the mighty Bayern. They will finally have a chance to seal a silverware this season in the final against Eintracht Frankfurt in May. Here are the best of the Dortmund players in their win over the record champions.
Roman Burki(8.5/10): Amazing performance from Burki once again as he stood tall and saved the efforts of Arjen Robben and Robert Lewandowski unbelievably well. He couldn’t have done much for the two goals he conceded in the first half.
Lukasz Piszczek(8/10): Showed his fighting spirit as he doggedly defended the right flank all on his own. Tuchel preferred some fresh legs later on, as he was replaced by Erik Durm.
Sokratis(8/10): Once again a great defensive display from the Greek International. Made a lot of tactical fouls to break the rhythm of the Bayern attack, which proved to be very useful for Dortmund at the end.
Sven Bender(9/10): Completely lost the sight of Javi Martinez to concede the equaliser, however, from then on, Bender’s defensive performance was absolutely amazing. He saved Dortmund’s blushes many times by making some well-timed challenges including a poor pass from Burki to Weigl. Thankfully for BVB, Bender was on hand to rescue.
Marcel Schmelzer(8.5/10): A tidy game for Marcel Schmelzer on the left flank. He finally managed to keep pace with Arjen Robben as the Dutchman was largely non-existent throughout the game thanks to Schmelzer’s tight marking.
Ousmane Dembele(9/10): Despite starting on the right, Dembele tried to move infield and cut through the lines of the Bayern defence. He was actually not quite up to the standards up until the moment of sheer magic when he put in a lovely cross to find Aubameyang and then scored the winner himself after fooling David Alaba with a dummy. He turned the game completely on its head.
Julian Weigl(8/10): Found it hard to perform against the experienced Bayern midfield trio but as the game went on, Weigl made full use of Bayern’s tiring midfielders. He gave Dortmund a clear structure and assurance in the middle of the field.
Gonzalo Castro(6.5/10): By far the worst Dortmund player on the night, Castro was quickly replaced by Erik Durm just after half time. In his time at the field, Castro did absolutely nothing to help Dortmund’s cause in dominating the midfield.
Raphael Guerreiro(9/10): A classy counter-attacking display from the Portuguese international. First, he intercepted Martinez’s awful backpass, then he picked the pockets of tiring Philip Lahm to initiate the counter attack which led to Dortmund’s third goal. His passing and defending were also top class on the night.
Marco Reus(9.5/10): Started along with Aubameyang as the two-man frontline. Reus bravely pressed Bayern so higher up the pitch that it led to Javi Martinez’s horror backpass. Showed his endeavour after scoring the opener and also assisting the winner by Ousmane Dembele. He also showed tremendous commitment and took the game from Bayern whenever he got on to the ball.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang(8.5/10): Despite making constant tiring runs in behind the defence, Auba never switched off the gas and he got rewarded when Bayern lost focus and the Gabonese was on hand to equalise for Dortmund. It was one of the key moments of the game.
Subs
Erik Durm(9.5/10): It was a game-changing substitution from Thomas Tuchel. Erik Durm came on for Gonzalo Castro and was quickly shifted to the right wing position. Then he took the responsibility of defending the entire flank as he moved to the right back position later on.
Christian Pulisic(NA): Was committed to seeing off the game as he threw in everything he could after replacing Lukasz Piszczek just ten minutes from time. He got rewarded for his sheer determination with a ticket to Berlin next month.
Matthias Ginter(NA): Came on in the dying minutes to provide more bodies back for the visitors.
