Christian Pulisic and Marco Reus inspire Borussia Dortmund to dramatic win over Union Berlin in the DFB Cup
Marco Reus scored a penalty in injury-time of extra-time to book Borussia Dortmund's place in the DFB Cup third round at the expense of Bundesliga 2 side Union Berlin. Christian Pulisic had a hand in all three of BVB's goals at the Signal Iduna Park.
Borussia Dortmund 3-2 (aet) Union Berlin
Goals: 1-0 Pulisic (40'), 1-1 Polter (63'), 2-1 Philipp (73'), 2-2, Polter (88'), 3-2 Reus (120+1' pen.)
Red card: Friedrich (120')
A much-changed Dortmund rode their luck early on and had reserve goalkeeper Marwin Hitz to thank for keeping promotion hopefuls Union at bay. Pulisic settled the nerves late in the half, though, tucking away the rebound from Shinji Kagawa’s header to give BVB the lead with his third goal of the campaign. Union almost levelled straight away, but Kenny Prince Redondo’s fierce strike came back off the crossbar.
Dortmund carried the greater threat after the restart as Raphael Guerreiro fired over and shot narrowly wide from range, before Union restored parity somewhat against the run of play through substitute Sebastian Polter. The Berlin club were level for only 10 minutes, however, with Maximilian Philipp collecting from Pulisic and leaving Rafal Gikiewicz no chance with the finish. Only a fine Gikiewicz save denied Philipp his second of the night.
More drama was to come as Union hit back with two minutes of normal time remaining. It was the same combination that produced their first goal, with Robert Zulj crossing for Polter to power in an unstoppable header and force extra-time. Hitz pulled off a brilliant save to thwart Simon Hedlund, but Union soon began to tire, and when Pulisic went down in the box under a challenge from Marvin Friedrich in added time - the Union defender seeing red - Reus stepped up to sink the ensuing penalty and send Dortmund through.
Match stats
- Pulisic has scored a goal in each of the Bundesliga, DFB Cup and UEFA Champions League this season.Reus has eight goals and seven assists in all competitions in 2018/19.Dortmund also needed an extra-time winner from Reus to see off Greuther Fürth in the first round.Real Madrid loanee Achraf Hakimi made his DFB Cup debut.BVB have now progressed in their last 22 cup matches against lower-league opposition, last failing against Kickers Offenbach in 2010/11.Four-time DFB Cup champions Borussia have contested five of the last seven finals.
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Line-ups
Dortmund: Hitz – Hakimi, Toprak, Zagadou, Diallo (Guerreiro 14') – Weigl (c), Dahoud (Witsel 86')– Pulisic, Kagawa (Reus 78'), Wolf (Sancho 90' ET) - Philipp
Unused subs: Bürki, Alcácer, Bruun Larsen
Absentees: Akanji (hip), Delaney (foot), Piszczek, Schmelzer (both knee)
Coach: Lucien Favre
Union: Gikiewicz – Trimmel (c), Friedrich, Hübner, Lenz (Reichel 105' ET) - Schmiedebach - Prömel, Hartel (Hedlund 76') - Redondo (Abdullahi 61'), Mees - Andersson (Polter 61')
Unused subs: Busk, Gogia, Parensen
Absentees: Torrejon (calf)
Coach: Urs Fischer
As it happened