BVB boast good DFB Cup record against Werder

The names of Willy Dunney and Karl Eron probably don't mean much to most people, but they are the goalscorers who put BVB 2-1 ahead and drew them level at 3-3 in a DFB Cup clash in Bremen on 19 September 1937. Once the match had gone to extra-time, August Lenz – who, by contrast, is known to almost every Borussia Dortmund fan – scored his second goal of the game to make it 4-3 and book the Black & Yellows a berth in the next round.

It was the first of six DFB Cup clashes – although at the time of the first meeting the competition was officially named the "Tschammer-Pokal" – between Dortmund and Bremen. BVB have only faced Bayern Munich more often. The Black & Yellows also won the second meeting with the Green & Whites in the 1963 semi-finals, with Timo Konietzka and Aki Schmidt scoring in a 2-0 victory. But Dortmund spurned the chance to claim their first-ever double that season, losing 3-0 to Hamburg in a final in which Uwe Seeler scored a hat-trick.

The most meaningful and emotional of those six DFB Cup clashes with Werder Bremen came on 24 June 1989 in scorching temperatures at the Olympiastadion in Berlin. On that day, Borussia Dortmund brought their 23-year trophy drought to an end and celebrated a triumph that would serve as a springboard for the successes of the 1990s. Having fallen behind early on when Karl-Heinz Riedle opened the scoring for the favourites, who were then the reigning German champions and UEFA Cup semi-finalists, the Black & Yellows battled back. Norbert Dickel restored parity within minutes of the opener before Frank Mill put Dortmund 2-1 ahead against the run of play in the 58th minute. Passionately supported by more than 40,000 BVB Fans in the capital, the underdogs kept the favourites at bay and soon struck twice in as many minutes – Dickel scored in the 73rd minute and substitute Michael Lusch quickly added another – to make it 4-1 and put the result beyond doubt. In the scorching heat, Bremen had nothing more to give.

BVB have won four of six DFB Cup meetings

"That was the point where we thought: we are somebody, we can win titles," recalled goalkeeper de Beer of that final. For him, 24 June 1989 will remain forever etched in the memory. "Taking part in such an event for the first time and experiencing the effect it had on so many people, seeing the Yellow Wall appear in Berlin and people running happily through the city. Pure goosebumps. I still get them today."

The clubs have since met three more times in the competition, with each encounter coming in the Round of 16. Werder won twice, the first time by a 2-0 scoreline thanks to two Wynton Rufer goals at the Weser-Stadion in 1992 and the second time 2-1 courtesy of strikes from Claudio Pizarro and Hugo Almeida at Signal Iduna Park in 2009. Dortmund, meanwhile, claimed a 2-1 victory on 29 January 2008, although it was the goalkeeper Marc Ziegler rather than the two goalscorers – Giovanni Federico in the 19th minute and Diego Klimowicz in the 80th minute – who were the real heroes that day. Ziegler not only saved a number of shots, but also kept out a Diego penalty in the 85th minute. The Bremen midfield maestro had scored from the spot only three minutes earlier to make it 2-1 and hand his side a lifeline.
Boris Rupert