4-1 – Aubameyang, Mkhitaryan and Ramos fire BVB into the second round

The game attracted a record home crowd of 35,000 for Kickers, with more than 10,000 BVB fans in attendance at Mercedes-Benz-Arena. They saw their team soaring to a convincing win but only after surviving a scare from the third-division side.

The Scenario: 

Exactly 91 days after losing 2-0 after extra time to Bayern Munich in the DFB Cup final, Borussia Dortmund kicked off the 2014/2015 campaign in the same competition. Stuttgarter Kickers, currently fourth in the third division, went into the game with the benefit of being four games into their season, while BVB had the momentum of winning the German Supercup three days earlier with a 2-0 win over Bayern Munich. Knowing the pitfalls of not taking lower league teams seriously, Borussia had won each of their last four first-round ties in the German cup 3-0.

Personnel Matters: 

Apart from the injured Schmelzer (torn groin muscle), BVB were without World Cup winners Hummels and Weidenfeller (only returned to training last week) as well as Sahin (knee), Gündogan and Blaszczykowski (match fitness).

But they had Marco Reus back. Eleven weeks after suffering a foot injury that kept him out of the World Cup, the Germany international led the Black and Yellows on the field as captain. BVB coach Jürgen Klopp made another four changes to the team that had beaten Bayern in the Supercup, with Subotic (competitive comeback), Durm (for the injured Schmelzer), Jojic and Ramos replacing Ginter, Kehl, Hofmann and Immobile.

Tactics:

New players, old system: BVB started with the tried-and-tested 4-2-3-1 from last season, however, in place of holding midfielders, Klopp opted to play Kirch and Jojic in more attacking roles (No 8 positions), with Reus in the central position of the three attacking midfielders alongside Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan. Defensively, BVB played with a 4-4-3 with Reus the first man to press the Kickers defence.

The home side lined up in a defensively-minded 4-3-3, getting 10 players behind the ball when not in possession.

The Game & Analysis:

Borussia Dortmund started in a fashion that suggested that they were not in the mood of allowing the Swabian outfit staging another cup upset against the Black and Yellows. In October 1999, BVB were knocked out of the cup by a 3-1 defeat to Kickers, though that match took place at Degerloch stadium. It was a different story this time around, however. With the match being played at Mercedes-Benz-Arena and more than half of the fans wearing the black and yellow colours, the Stuttgart side were not given a real home field advantage!

The Bundesliga side took charge of the contest from the start with most of the action taking place in Stuttgart’s half. However, despite their dominance, BVB only managed to create one chance in the opening 30 minutes when Aubameyang, after a one-two with Mkhitaryan, made a surging run down the left before crossing into the centre where Ramos missed the ball for Jojic to pick it up at the penalty spot, with his shot wrong-footing the goalkeeper but also going just wide of the left post (13 mins.).

BVB dominated possession, but failed to up the tempo sufficiently – until the 30th minute when Kirch played a defence-splitting pass down the right into the path of Piszczek who delivered a cross from the by-line back to Mkhitaryan to slot home with a left-footed effort. The Armenian has now scored in every (competitive and preseason) game this season with the exception of the 4-0 defeat in Liverpool.

However, after taking the lead, the Black and Yellows were starting to get a bit sloppy at the back, especially after corners. Following a double-defensive error by BVB’s centre-backs, Soriano had a chance to level the score but his effort from 10 yards went just wide (37 mins.), and five minutes later they had to thank Langerak for making a great save from Braun. Overall,BVB enjoyed greater possession in the first half, 68 percent, but they only had one more shot on target than Kickers (4-3).

Three minutes after the interval, Aubameyang had already rounded Kickers goalkeeper Redl to tap the ball into the empty goal only to be denied by a last-ditch clearance onto the post from Fennel. At the other end, the home side had two chances to put the match at level terms, the first when Soriano was denied by great save from Langerak (49), and the second, only a few seconds later, when Edwini-Bonsu, fortunate to have the ball fall at his feet, could not get enough power into his effort and Langerak had an easy save. The Black and Yellows were also lucky on 54 minutes when a Stein effort from the centre of the box got a deflection away for a corner.

Kickers failed to take their chances up front, and at the back they were punished for their frailties. In the 55th minute, Aubameyang intercepted a poorly weighted back-pass from Fennel to his goalkeeper and slotted home to make it 2-0 for Borussia. But the two-goal lead was only short-lived as Edwini-Bonsu took advantage of another slip at the back when he scored from a Soriano free-kick to cut the deficit. However, the Kickers goal should have been disallowed as Soriano was slightly offside.

Mkhitaryan had a chance to restore BVB’s two-goal lead at the other end but was denied by Redl (62 mins), while Ramos was unlucky to see his header fly just wide (67 mins). It was Aubameyang who eventually put the game out of reach for the third-division side when he turned home a cross from Piszczek after good work from Kirch (78 mins.), with Ramos sealing the win on 89  minutes following a Sokratis long ball and a flick-on from Aubameyang for BVB’s fourth.

TEAMS & GOALS

DFB Cup, 1st Round
 STUTTGARTER KICKERS – BORUSSIA DORTMUND 1-4 (0-1)

Stuttgarter Kickers: Redl – Leutenecker, Stein, Fennell, Baumgärtel – Halimi, Marchese, Braun – Müller, Soriano, Edwini-Bonsu – Soriano
 Borussia Dortmund: Langerak - Piszczek, Subotic, Sokratis, Durm – Jojic, Kirch - Aubameyang, Reus, Mkhitaryan – Ramos
 Substitutions: 62. Calamata for Soriano, 81. Badiane for Müller – 57. Kehl for Reus, 83. Großkreutz for Mkhitaryan, 90.+1 Bender for Kirch
 Goals: 0-1 Mkhitaryan (30., Piszczek), 0-2 Aubameyang (55.), 1-2 Edwini-Bonsu (60., Soriano), 1-3 Aubameyang (78., Piszczek), 1-4 Ramos (89., Aubameyang)
 Corners: 4-6 (HT 3-2), Chances: 6-10 (2-4)
 Referee: Sippel (Munich), Yellow cards: – Mkhitaryan, Ramos
 Attendance: 37,000, Weather: sunny, 17 degrees

Prospects:

The draw for the second round (28/29 October) will be made on 23 August, right after BVB’s Bundesliga game against Bayer Leverkusen (kick-off: 1830 CET).