Comfortably through in the cup competitions

The opening goal came after three minutes when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang cancelled out the first-leg deficit with a header from an Ousmane Dembélé corner that had been flicked on by Christian Pulisic. But Benfica grew into the game in the latter stages of the first half and would have scored shortly after the restart had it not been for some fine defensive work from Lukasz Piszczek. Goals from Pulisic and Aubameyang in the space of three minutes around the hour-mark all but handed the hosts a quarter-final berth, before Aubameyang completed his hat-trick on 85 minutes to make it 4-0 and put the result beyond all doubt.

The Black & Yellows carried over their winning form in European competition to the DFB Cup, where they beat Sportfreunde Lotte 3-0 in their postponed quarter-final tie to reach a fifth semi-final since 2012. In what was a highly intense and hard-fought affair, the third-tier side eventually ran out of steam and could not keep up with BVB’s tempo, allowing Christian Pulisic, André Schürrle and Marcel Schmelzer to find the net.

Meanwhile, in the Bundesliga, there were two victories and a defeat for third-placed Borussia, who swept aside Bayer Leverkusen by a 6-2 scoreline. Delivering a dominant display with plenty of pace going forward, the hosts raced into a two-goal lead inside the opening half-hour courtesy of Dembélé (6) and Aubameyang (26). Kevin Volland halved the deficit three minutes into the second period, before Aubameyang re-established the two-goal cushion with 20 minutes to go. Wendel hit back four minutes later to reduce the lead to 3-2, before a late flurry of goals from Pulisic (77), Schürrle (penalty) and Guerreiro in the closing minutes sealed Dortmund’s biggest-ever win over Leverkusen. The only cause for concern was a fibre injury sustained by Marco Reus.

A subsequent 2-1 defeat at the hands of Hertha BSC denied the Black & Yellows the opportunity to leapfrog Leipzig into second place and pull away from Hoffenheim and the capital club. Salomon Kalou capitalised on a defensive error to break the deadlock for Hertha on the 11-minute mark. And although Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang spurred hopes of a revival by levelling after 55 minutes, a direct free-kick from Marvin Plattenhardt handed the hosts all three points and brought BVB’s four-match winning run in all competitions to an end. Next up was an arduous 1-0 victory over Ingolstadt in which an early Aubameyang strike in the 14^th minute proved to be the difference between the sides, with Dortmund defending strongly and giving their opponents few chances going forward.

An unfortunate 3-2 defeat to Viktoria Köln in front of a wonderful crowd of 5,529 spectators at the Rote Erde put a dent in the U23s’ promotion aspirations. The BVB youngsters had twice been ahead before the league leaders turned the game around. The official Secondary Ticket Market Platform was launched with the aim of ensuring a fair distribution of tickets at fair prices. In cooperation with its ticketing partner EVENTIM Sports, BVB had the platform fully integrated into its own, pre-existing online ticket shop. “The official Secondary Ticket Market Platform is a valuable and important step in the battle against the black market and illegal ticket sales,” said BVB’s Chief Executive Officer Hans-Joachim Watzke.

Mahmoud Dahoud became the second player after Ömer Toprak to agree a move to Dortmund ahead of the 2017/18 season. The 21-year-old midfielder agreed to a transfer from Borussia Mönchengladbach to the Strobelallee, where he signed a five-year contract until summer 2022. Meanwhile, Gonzalo Castro agreed a premature contract extension until 30 June 2020.
Boris Rupert