The DFB-Pokal final is set after a stunning result in Munich saw Borussia Dortmund mount a second-half comeback to beat Bayern Munich, 3-2, in the semifinal. Goals from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Ousmane Dembele saw Dortmund take a shocking lead after going down in the first half, setting up what should be an entertaining DFB-Pokal final against Eintracht Frankfurt.
Borussia Dortmund came out of the gates playing fast to try and get an early goal, but for all of their early momentum they struggled to make good on their chances. It actually took a major mistake from a Bayern Munich defender for them to score the opener, with Javi Martinez getting very sloppy with a backpass to goalkeeper Sven Ulreich, allowing Marco Reus to swoop in and score.
Dortmund were hoping that would set a tone for the match, but Bayern instead turned things right around and started dominating possession and forcing the ball right into the face of the defense. Dortmund did their best to hold firm, but their midfield and defense got scattered to the winds too many times to hold out forever, with Martinez making good for his mistake with a goal in the 28th minute, and fellow defender Mats Hummels scoring on the team that made him famous in the 41st minute to give Bayern a 2-1 lead going into halftime.
For much of the second half it looked like Bayern would be able to control their way to a win, and maybe even score another goal or two along the way. But a bit of bad luck in the form of Arjen Robben hitting the post on an apparent sitter of a chance (and Sven Bender making a heroic stop moments earlier) started to slowly open the door for opportunities for Dortmund to come back.
That comeback started just after the hour mark, when a slightly fatigued Hummels was taken off in favor of Jerome Boateng, who needed to work up some match fitness after dealing with a recent groin injury. That injury still seemed to have Boateng playing a step slow, though, a fact that Dortmund quickly recognized and exploited, throwing direct play right at him and scoring twice in the next 12 minutes, with goals coming for Aubameyang in the 69th minute and Dembele in the 74th minute.
Bayern suddenly found themselves staring at a 3-2 deficit just minutes after feeling like they had the game in hand, and threw themselves into desperation mode, slowly bringing on more firepower from the bench in the form of Thomas Müller and Diego Costa. They struggled to make their accustomed impact, though, with Dortmund’s defense holding firm until the final whistle.
It’s a shocking result given how much of the match played out, but it’s hard not to say that Dortmund deserve this win. They played fantastically in the second half, overcoming a previously dominant Bayern despite being humbled by them just a few weeks ago in the Bundesliga, and then again for much of the first half. They showed a steel we haven’t seen much of from Dortmund in a long time, and that should serve them very well in the DFB-Pokal final.
Bayern Munich: Sven Ulreich; Philipp Lahm, Mats Hummels (Jerome Boateng 62’), Javi Martinez, David Alaba; Xabi Alonso (Thomas Müller 79’); Arjen Robben, Arturo Vidal, Thiago Alcantara, Franck Ribery (Douglas Costa 86’); Robert Lewandowski
Goals: Martinez (28’), Hummels (41’)
Borussia Dortmund: Roman Bürki; Lukasz Piszczek (Christian Pulisic 80’), Sokratis, Sven Bender, Marcel Schmelzer; Gonzalo Castro (Erik Durm 46’), Julian Weigl, Raphaël Guerreiro; Ousmane Dembele, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Marco Reus (Matthias Ginter 90’+1)
Goals: Reus (19’), Aubameyang (69’), Dembele (74’)
Three things we learned
Borussia Dortmund keep losing their focus against Bayern — but found it at the right time
We saw it a few weeks ago when Der Klassiker was played out in the Bundesliga, and we saw it again on Wednesday: Dortmund are a very good team, but of late they get unfocused and scattered when playing a huge team like Bayern. That trait nearly cost them dearly once more in this match, and until they can find a solution, it’s probably going to keep them from taking a significant step forward as a club.
It’s hard to say what the exact cause of the issue is, but the result is patently obvious. Much of the time when facing a team like Bayern, Dortmund seem to lose their ability to keep their shape and tactical setup coherent, giving up too much space defensively and losing their lethal overlapping play in attack. Thomas Tuchel’s team is well-drilled most of the time, but there’s just something about its mentality in these matches that often seems to throw all of that out the window.
They couldn’t have picked a better time to find their focus, though, because their identification of Boateng as the weak link in Bayern’s defense in the second half was the perfect solution to their situation on the pitch, and they exploited it perfectly. Their two goals instilled a lot of confidence into a side that had been struggling to find some in this match, and let them work past their issues. Now they have to find a way to do that more consistently, and that’s a whole other battle they’ll have to conquer.
Javi Martinez is a wild ride
The Spanish defender has been a huge asset at times for Bayern Munich during his time with the club, but there are also been times when he’s been an outright liability. This match was a microcosm of his range, giving up a goal with a terrible backpass, then scoring himself just nine minutes later to help make up for it. He also swung between spells of getting beaten far too easily by Aubameyang and absolutely shutting him down, a trend that likely did not leave Bayern fans happy, especially when Aubameyang scored an equalizer in the 69th minute.
We’ve seen some pretty major bad moments from Martinez lately, including a sending off against Real Madrid in the Champions League that helped lead to Bayern’s eventual loss in the quarterfinals. But he also quietly puts in a lot of good play, and with Bayern trying to settle in backup goalkeeper Sven Ulreich as the starter with Manuel Neuer out for the season, they need Martinez to show the good side of himself a lot more than the bad during this final stretch of the season.
Thiago Alcantara is quietly Bayern’s best midfielder
In a midfield dominated by names like Xabi Alonso, Arturo Vidal, and Thomas Müller, it’s easy for a talent like Thiago to get missed. But if you sit back and watch the Spaniard play, it quickly becomes obvious just how important to this Bayern side he is. Almost everything goes through him in attack — ball-settling possession play, switching attacking passes, penetrating into the penalty area, all of it. If he’s not the one actually on the ball making things happen, he’s the one making a run to set it up or otherwise forcing a defender to account for him instead of someone else. He’s also surprisingly good defensively, using excellent positioning and work rate to harry attackers all over the pitch.
No matter what, Thiago is involved, and he’s so good at it that it’s impossible not be impressed with him. Many have been wondering what will happen to Bayern’s midfield when Xabi Alonso retires at the end of this season, but as long as Thiago is around, they should be just fine, because he’s one of the best midfielders around whether people recognize it or not.