DFB Cup
BVB joy knows no bounds as DFB Cup final place is secured
While New Year's fireworks lit up the night sky in Dortmund as the city celebrated its football team reaching the 72nd edition of the DFB Cup final, equally unbelievable scenes were unfolding 600 kilometres away at the scene of the Black and Yellows' shoot-out success.
The clock was approaching midnight when Jürgen Klopp re-emerged from the catacombs of the Allianz Arena and sprinted over to the 8,000 travelling fans, clenching his fist and punching the air as he shared the supporters' joy at reaching the Berlin final. "What the fans did was unprecedented. You only get that with Dortmund," he said.
For 120 minutes - plus stoppage time and penalties - it was the BVB fans who set the tone at the home of the reigning and newly-crowned German champions, giving the team a boost in the long periods of the game where they seemed lacking in courage and ideas. For 70 minutes, they were unable to put their coach's instructions into practice, having been instructed to set the pace rather than inflict minimal damage on their opponents. Yet it was Bayern who dominated. Only the tactical strategy of forcing the opposition out wide and giving the centrally-positioned Thiago and Lewandowski as few chances as possible to make an impact seemed to work. "In footballing terms we really didn't put in a good performance in the first half, even if we were defensively OK," admitted captain Mats Hummels.
With a series of mistakes from the men in Black and Yellow paving the way for Robert Lewandowski to open the scoring in the 30th minute, the match could have been all but over by the time 60 minutes had elapsed. But BVB custodian Mitch Langerak, who left the pitch a winner for the fourth time in four matches against Bayern Munich, made outstanding saves to deny both Müller (48) and Thiago (57) before Lewandowski thundered a shot against the crossbar. Bayern then had a penalty appeal turned down by referee Gagelmann when Schmelzer handled inside the box.
"No reason to be ashamed of our good fortune"
In contrast to the Cup finals in 2008 - which presented several smaller talking points - and 2014 when a disallowed Hummels goal saw the club slip to defeat, Borussia Dortmund had the luck they needed to overcome tougher periods of the match this time around. "We have no reason to be ashamed of our good fortune on the night," said BVB President Dr. Reinhard Rauball.
The referee's decision not to point to the penalty spot after Lewandowski was bundled over in the box was the right call, with the Polish striker clearly in an offside position (117). But no-one associated with BVB was happy when the forward was forced to leave the pitch and head for the hospital, with the incident prompting BVB to wish the striker a speedy recovery via Facebook and Twitter.
BVB go through the gears as Mkhitaryan enters the fray
The substitution of Henrik Mkhitaryan in the 70th minute saw the game tip in BVB's favour. Dortmund became more courageous, took the game by the scruff of the neck and equalised five minutes later through Aubameyang following wonderful combination play from Reus, Blaszczykowski and substitute Mkhitaryan. "We needed a key moment and grabbed the goal from the smallest chance in the game, when the ball was barely reachable any more," said Klopp, before adding: "After that we had great chances that Manuel Neuer stopped." Mkhitaryan (80) and Reus (82, 86) were both denied by the Munich shot-stopper.
Bayern, who had begun to wane in the closing stages of normal time, came back into game and started to dominate proceedings once again after Kevin Kampl was sent off for a second bookable offence in the 108th minute. Schweinsteiger headed over the bar from an unmarked position (102) before drawing another save from Langerak, who pulled off his third almost-impossible save of the evening in the 114th minute to deny the Munich man.
Bayern fail to find net in shoot-out
The ensuing penalty shoot-out will go down as one of the most bizarre of all time. Lahm and Alonso both slipped before Langerak denied Götze, meaning that only three Dortmund players had to score. Gündogan and Kehl slotted home excellent penalties before Neuer dived to claw away Hummels' placed effort. But the miss didn't matter, with the Bayern keeper subsequently blasting his own penalty against the bar to bring the shoot-out to a premature end.
"Everyone's happy and relieved that we were able to get something good out of this season," said a delighted Mats Hummels. This evening's DFB Cup semi-final will see Arminia Bielefeld take on VfL Wolfsburg for the right to square off against BVB in the final on 30 May in Berlin's Olympiastadion.
Upon returning to Dortmund, Jürgen Klopp cancelled the squad's scheduled training session and sent the players home to relax instead. It was a match that demanded a great deal from the players, though the Black and Yellows will hope for the usual post-match tiredness rather than any injuries as a result. Borussia Dortmund face their next "semi-final" on Saturday when they take on TSG Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga. It's a game BVB can't afford to lose if they have any aspirations of securing seventh place. After all, the only way they can qualify for Europe is through the domestic league - or by winning the 72nd DFB Cup final...
Boris Rupert