The DFB Pokal final between Wolfsburg and Dortmund was given a beautiful sneak peak, with the Wolves escaping with three points after an entertaining encounter.
A 2-1 Victory is all but enough to seal second place for Wolfsburg and leave Dortmund chasing European ambitions.
Wolfsburg and Dortmund came face-to-face in what was to be the curtain raiser to their later clash in the German Cup final. With a Champions League place secured, one would have been forgiven for thinking the Wolves would hide their aces up their sleeves and rest players for this seemingly unimportant game.
Mats Hummels’ late withdrawal threw a spanner in the works early, while Luiz Gustavo watched from the sidelines and Marco Reus waited on the bench for his return from injury. But those were the only stars missing in a no holds barred encounter.
Dortmund was caught napping early, before a calamity of missed opportunities from both sides saw an entertaining contest lacking more goals. A 1-1 half-time scoreline was unreflective of the attacking football.
Naldo’s somewhat controversial seventh Bundesliga goal enough to see the Wolves hang on to a 2-1 victory.
Formations
No-one would be surprised to have seen Wolfsburg line-up with a trademark 4-2-3-1, Jung came in for a rare start over Christian Trasch and Vieirinha, and Maximilian Arnold bossing the midfield next to the bustling Joshua Guilavogui. No other surprises lay in store for Dortmund with the Wolves lineup starting predictably.
Wolfsburg starting XI (4-2-3-1): Benaglio; Jung, Naldo, Klose, Rodriguez; Arnold, Guilavogui; Perisic, De Bruyne, Caliguri; Dost.
Dortmund suffered a harsh blow early with Mats Hummels injured in the warm up, Subotic and Sokratis were left to try and fill his boots. Reus was left benched not being risked until late for his return. The lineup was full of promise and showed Dortmund’s intentions to go hard or go home from the get go. BVB also started in their usual 4-2-3-1.
Dortmund starting XI (4-2-3-1): Langerak; Durm, Subotic, Sokratis, Schmeltzer; Kehl, Gundogan; Mkhitaryan, Kagawa, Kampl; Aubameyang.
More physical wolves scrape home
Losing a super-star defender hurts, and when that man has the presence on the pitch like Mats Hummels, that really hurts. Dortmund reshuffled their back four, but without the pressure and leadership of Hummels the defence allowed Bas Dost to control the ball in the air, and subsequently the match.
The wolves won 26 aerial duels to 11, and took advantage of aerial superiority with a high press and longer ball movement. Although the Dortmund forwards looked dangerous through quicker passing play and creativity, the physicality of the Wolves lead to missed opportunities and wasted chances. The confidence the big men gave Wolfsburg allowed them to settle on the ball and retain possession more than Dortmund would have appreciated.
In addition to their superiority when the ball was in the air, the Wolves also benefitted from added confidence in their attacking players. Wolfsburg had almost twice the amount of take ons then their opponents, taking risks in order to attack deeper into their own half. With the plethora of skilled dribbling players on both teams the confidence of a stand out season was evident in the way Dieter Hecking’s went about their job.
A match telling of Dortmund’s season
Within the opening minute the Wolves pounced on a Dortmund lapse, telling of the black and yellow’s season, and De Bruyne punished them in typical fashion, giving a cut-back to Caliguiri to grasp the contest. Dortmund then awoke from and early slumber and laid siege to the Wolfsburg goal. Slick passing play allowed the agile Dortmund players to slip around their lumbering markers in Guilavogui, Naldo and Klose before Kevin Kampl was taken down in no uncertain circumstances and a penalty awarded.
Pierre Aubameyang made no mistake, and the goal sparked a revival from Dortmund, taking control of the game. Dortmund showed so much potential to come back into the game, but for a reason that has no doubt confused most their supporters all season were unable to translate their potential into vital points for Europa qualification, proving again how costly missed chances can be.
A missed header and a few sloppy finishes meant Dortmund could not capitalise on any of this momentum and were nearly caught out when Dost, who is by no means the quickest player, streamed through a static defence before firing very-wide. This was the story of their defence all day. The back four gave Wolfsburg far too many clear cut chances around the penalty area and if not for some last ditch heroics from Langerak and some poor finishing from the Wolves, the scoreboard could have looked a whole lot less forgiving.
Wolfsburg Conclusion
With just a point required to seal 2nd place, the Wolves might rest a few of their star players coming into the last game against Koln. Expect to see Schurrle start and perhaps a new face like Zhang to make his debut. De Bruyne is potentially one assist of breaking the Bundesliga record held by Frank Ribery and Zvjezdan Misimovic and might be given a limited role in order to achieve this.
The Wolves will be very happy to have got the better of Dortmund and might benefit in two weeks time from the confidence and knowledge that they can beat BVB if they play the way they want to. With Luiz Gustavo to return they might also hope that their defensive efforts will be boosted, especially if Marco Reus is fit for the cup tie.
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Dortmund Conclusion
Dortmund were perhaps a tad unlucky to be leaving the Volkswagen arena with no points. They toiled hard all day and were let down by some poor defensive concentration and inadequate finishing. These areas they will look to improve on for the crucial final match against Werder Bremen.
Should Marco Reus and Mats Hummels be available for their last Bundesliga match and the rematch with Wolfsburg in the cup final, Dortmund will no doubt feel as if they have an extra spark to get the better of Wolfsburg next time. Add to this conundrum the realisation that the cup final will be Klopp’s last game at the helm and one fired up Dortmund will be rearing to go.
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