Borussia Dortmund fought back to stun bitter rivals Bayern Munich 3-2 on Wednesday to reach the German Cup final and shatter the Bavarian giants’ dreams of the double. A brilliant strike from Ousmane Dembele 15 minutes from the end settled the semi-final tie at Munich’s Allianz Arena which had seen Dortmund trail 2-1 at half-time.
“This is the biggest moment of my career with Dortmund. It’s hard to come to Munich and get a win,” beamed Dembele, 19, who only joined Borussia for the start of the season.
The result is a dramatic turn-around for Thomas Tuchel’s Dortmund who were hammered 4-1 by runaway leaders Bayern in Munich in the Bundesliga just three weeks ago. “We came from 2-1 down and still won - that’s crazy,” beamed Tuchel. “We had completely written off our 4-1 defeat in the league. We played well for 20 minutes and then we let it slip. After the break, we kept improving and improving, from the 60th minute we were very good. We certainly had a bit of luck too.”
The loss is a disaster for Bayern’s coach Carlo Ancelotti following the Bavarian giants’ Champions League quarter-final exit at the hands of Real Madrid.
The cup exit in Munich leaves Bayern winless in their last five games following back-to-back losses to Real, plus draws with Mainz and Leverkusen in the league. Ancelotti’s Bayern are eight points clear in the Bundesliga with four games left.
However, their dreams of repeating last season’s league and cup double, under Ancelott’s predecessor Pep Guardiola, are over.
“I think it’s too early to talk about the season, we’re still trying to win the Bundesliga,” said Ancelotti when asked about the down-turn in fortunes this April. “We’re disappointed, we had our chances to go 3-1 up. This is not a good moment, but we have to focus on the Bundesliga.”
In a repeat of last year’s final at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium, which Bayern won in a penalty shoot-out, Marco Reus put Dortmund ahead after 19 minutes following a mistake by Munich’s Javi Martinez.
The Spanish international’s lazy back pass was snapped up by Dortmund midfielder Raphael Guerreiro, whose snot hit the post and Reus drilled the rebound.
Martinez made amends by equalising with a header nine minutes later before Mats Hummels put Bayern 2-1 ahead at half-time. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang made it 2-2 on 69 minutes when he headed home a superb Dembele cross.
That paved the way for the French teenager to hit the winner with a curling left-foot shot to break Bayern’s hearts. “That is a huge disappointment,” said Bayern’s stunned captain Philipp Lahm. “You could see when it was 2-2 that we really wanted to reach the final. We didn’t play well in the first 15 minutes, but then we improved. First, we have to absorb this setback.”
Dortmund will play in a fourth consecutive final on May 27, when they face Eintracht Frankfurt, who reached the final on Tuesday with a penalty shoot-out win over Borussia Moenchengladbach.
