Robert Lewandowski and Henrikh Mkhitaryan both scored as Borussia Dortmund booked their place in the 2014 DFB-Pokal final with a 2-0 win over Wolfsburg.
Borussia Dortmund vs. Wolfsburg: Final score 2-0, BVB will play for a trophy after thumping Wolfsburg
Roberto Lewandowski’s 100th goal for BVB, Roman Weidenfeller and the woodwork combined to help Dortmund advance to the DFB-Pokal final.
Stuart Franklin
Dortmund went right on the attack form the opening whistle and took advantage of their possession in the 12th minute thanks to a wonderful precision strike from Mkhitaryan.
The Armenian striker received the ball from Marco Reus on the left side of the attacking third before cutting inside, running parallel to the Wolfsburg 18-yard box. Somehow, Mkhitaryan found the smallest of gaps between defenders, firing a low shot through traffic that eluded Max Grün, giving BVB the early 1-0 lead.
A minute after Reus just missed doubling Dortmund’s lead thanks to a poor second touch as he raced in one-on-one against Grün, Wolfsburg somehow failed to equalize. The BVB defense couldn’t deal with a floated–in corner kick as the ball fell in the box, right near the goal line.
Wolfsburg missed another great chance to pull even in the 42nd minute when Junior Malanda got off a free header in the middle, but hit the post with his attempt. The ball rebounded right to Kevin De Bruyne, but his shot was off target, rolling wide of the far post.
On the ensuing counter-attack, Dortmund made Wolfsburg pay for failing to take advantage of their chances. Reus found Robert Lewandowski in the Wolfsburg box with a short chipped pass, and the big striker muscled off a defender before sending a shot past Grün to double the BVB lead.
It was Lewandowski’s 100th career goal for BVB.
BVB remained aggressive in the second half, but missed some great chances to add a third goal. Lewandowski went so far as to put the ball in the back of the net in the 54th minute, but the offside flag negated the goal.
Malanda missed his second “certain” goal of the match in the 65th minute. A perfectly placed cross found the Belgian four yards from goal, completely unmarked after somehow getting away from Erik Durm. Malanda’s one-touch attempt was just off-target, though, going over the crossbar.
Wolfsburg were again denied in the 80th minute when Roman Weidenfeller made a stunning save on Malanda, somehow getting across in time to block his shot off a free kick cross. The rebound went right to Luiz Gustavo, who put the ball right back on frame, but it deflected off Weidenfeller's arm and off the post.
Borussia Dortmund: Weidenfeller, Piszczek, Hummels, Papastathopoulos, Durm, Kehl, Jojic, Reus (Schieber 90'), Mkhitaryan (Kirch 72'), Grosskreutz, Lewandowski (Aubameyang 85')
Goals: Mkhitaryan (12’), Lewandowski (43’)
VFL Wolfsburg: Grün, Schäfer, Träsch, Naldo, Knoche, Perisic, De Bruyne, Malanda (Caligiuri 84’), Gustavo, Arnold (Vieirinha 63’), Olic
Goals: None
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