Marcel Sabitzer curled in a free kick in the third minute of stoppage time, and Borussia Dortmund beat Werder Bremen 3-2 in the German Cup on Tuesday night. Bremen had come back from 2-0 down, and the man who brought them back was a former Dortmund striker, Niclas Füllkrug.
Dortmund are through to the last 16 of the DFB-Pokal. Bremen go home with nothing after a very good second half.
Dortmund were cruising after 17 minutes
Serhou Guirassy scored after six minutes when Julian Ryerson set him up close to goal. Eleven minutes later Carney Chukwuemeka finished into the far corner, and it was 2-0.
Coach Niko Kovac had made four changes to his team. For an hour it looked like he could rest a few more players and still win easily.
Füllkrug came off the bench and changed the game
Füllkrug started on the bench. Soon after he came on, Ryerson fouled Mick Schmetgens in the box, and Füllkrug scored the penalty in the 65th minute.
A few minutes later he did it again. He took the ball near the halfway line, ran at the Dortmund defence and beat goalkeeper Gregor Kobel. Within four minutes it was 2-2.
Sabitzer had the last word
Deep in stoppage time Felix Nmecha was fouled outside the box. Sabitzer hit the free kick from about 25 yards, and it went in at the near post. Bremen goalkeeper Karl Hein was badly placed.
“I will remember this one forever. I am very happy today,” Sabitzer said after the game.
Bremen defender Marco Friedl called it one of the most bitter defeats of his career so far. “It really hurts,” he said.
Dortmund now go to Bayern Munich on Saturday. The two clubs are level at the top of the Bundesliga with 17 points each, and Bayern play Magdeburg in the cup tonight.
Our take
Dortmund deserve credit for finding a winner when the game was slipping away. A late free kick like that can lift a whole team before a trip to Munich.
But the defending after the break was poor. A two-goal lead at home against a team that had changed four players should not turn into a nervy finish. Bayern will punish mistakes like that on Saturday.
For Bremen, Füllkrug showed again that he can still change a game in a few minutes. Bremen coach Daniel Thioune has a question to answer now: can he keep a striker in that form on the bench?
Was Kovac right to rotate before Bayern, or did it nearly cost Dortmund the cup? Tell us in the comments.
Photos via Wikimedia Commons: Marcel Sabitzer by Sandro Halank (CC BY-SA 4.0), Niclas Füllkrug by Silesia711 (CC BY-SA 4.0), Signal Iduna Park by TE2606 (CC BY-SA 3.0), Serhou Guirassy by feguifoot (public domain).