Borussia Dortmund's U19s have one foot in the final of the German Championship after recording a 3-2 victory at heavy favourites VfL Wolfsburg in the semi-final first leg. The return leg will take place at the Brackel training centre at 18:30 CET on Monday 15 May. Dzenis Burnic found the net twice and Jannis Heuer scored an own goal as the Black and Yellows became the first team to defeat the Wolves this term.

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Borussia Dortmund's youngsters began nervously in an atmospheric AOK Arena. "We didn't start too well," admitted Youth Coordinator Lars Ricken. A misplaced pass from midfield man Orel Mangala, who was otherwise outstanding, gifted Wolfsburg's Timothy Mason the opener in the 13th minute. Shortly beforehand BVB had squandered an opportunity to break the deadlock when Etienne Amenyido headed narrowly wide of the VfL goal following a Niklas Beste corner.

But BVB's control over the match and their opponents grew as time passed and they were rewarded with an equaliser after 23 minutes when Jannis Heuer was pressurised into turning the ball into his own net by Amos Pieper following another Niklas Beste corner. The game subsequently swung back and forth, with VfL initially looking a tad stronger and compacter while BVB struggled to implement their usual short-passing combination play. On 41 minutes, shortly after Eike Bansen had made an outstanding save to keep the Wolves at bay, Richmond Tachie re-established the hosts' lead after excellent work by Adrian Goransch down the left flank. BVB could have restored parity on the stroke of half-time but Hüseyin Bulut failed to get decent contact on a Dominik Wanner cross.

Dzenis Burnic on the double

"A goal is always on the cards. It's always fun to watch," said Germany U19 coach Frank Kramer of a fast-paced, action-packed and highly entertaining match, which gained even more momentum after the interval. The Black and Yellows enjoyed significantly more possession but were still lacking accuracy when it came to the final or the penultimate pass, although that changed in the 75th minute when substitute Alexander Hacke set up Dzenis Burnic with a flick shortly after coming on. The captain rounded off a lovely move with a strike from 20 metres to level the scores at 2-2.

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By now the Black and Yellows had really found their groove, defending with passion and attacking with intelligence. A move initiated by Felix Passlack in the 83rd minute of the match culiminated in Wolfsburg custodian Philipp Menzel bringing down David Kopacz, prompting the referee to point to the spot. Dzenis Burnic calmly slotted home the ensuing penalty. In the closing stages the hosts threw everything forward but Benjamin Hoffmann's charges saw out the 3-2 victory and inflicted a first defeat of the season upon their hosts from Lower Saxony.

BVB: Bansen – Passlack, Kilian, Pieper, Beste – Kopacz (Schwermann, 87), Mangala, Burnic – Bulut (Laukart, 72), Amenyido (Serra, 76), Wanner (Kyeremateng, 61)
Wilfried Wittke