Union Berlin lose to Borussia Dortmund in extra time
DFB Pokal:
Sebastian Polter equalised twice at the Westfalenstadion as 1. FC Union Berlin went down agonisingly in the final minutes of extra-time against Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund.
Union Berlin were within minutes of taking Borussia Dortmund to penalties but Marco Reus scored from 12 yards in the 120th minute as defender Marvin Friedrich was shown his marching orders. Christian Pulisic and Maximilian Philipp scored for the home side, who were pegged back on two occasions inside the 90 minutes by strikes from substitute Polter. A determined and resilient performance from Union wasn't to be rewarded and Urs Fischer's men suffer their first taste of defeat this season.
Borussia Dortmund: Hitz; Hakimi, Diallo (Guerreiro 14), Toprak, Zagadou; Weigl, Dahoud (Witsel 86); Pulisic, Kagawa (Reus 79), Wolf (Sancho 91); Philipp
1. FC Union Berlin: Gikiewicz; Trimmel, Hübner, Friedrich, Lenz (Reichel 105); Schmiedebach, Prömel, Zulj; Hartel (Hedlund 75), Andersson (Polter 61), Redondo (Abdullahi 61)
Attendance: 72,732
For Union Berlin to topple the strongest team in German football at the moment, Urs Fischer predicted that his side would need to have a very good day, while Dortmund have a poor evening. There was no sign of the latter in the early stages as Dortmund peppered the Union box from the right-hand side after the 10-minute mark. The home side lost centre-back Abdou Diallo to injury, the former Mainz defender being replaced by Raphael Guerreiro after 14 minutes. Midway through the half, Union made it uncomfortable for Lucien Favre’s side. Marwin Hitz parried wide a free-kick from Zulj before Lenz’s driven effort was touched wide for a corner kick. From the following corner kick, Hitz did superbly to gather cleanly Hübner’s goal-bound header with a number of Union players ready to pounce on any potential rebound.
However, Dortmund opened the scoring five minutes before the break — Union’s defence failed to deal with Mo Dahoud’s cross and Pulisic slid home to score. Minutes later, Redondo won the loose ball on the edge of the area and his left-foot volley cannoned against the Dortmund crossbar.
After the second half resumes, Dortmund see the better of the chances in attack, with substitute Guerreiro lashing a big opportunity over the bar from close range. Fischer twisted on the hour mark, introducing Polter and Suleiman Abdullahi in place of Sebastian Andersson and Redondo. Union drew level inside four minutes — Polter taking in a great through ball from Zulj before prodding the ball past Hitz and into the net. The Berliners kept the scores level for another 10 minutes until Philipp blasted into the corner from inside the box on the 73rd minute mark.
There was further drama — inspired by an equally outstanding display from 8,000 travelling Union fans — when Zulj dribbled into space and picked out Polter inside the box. The striker made absolutely no mistake with a well-placed, composed header into the far corner to take the game beyond the 90 minutes.
The Berliners leaped into action early on with Abdullahi’s speed and directness creating a great chance for Simon Hedlund. However, the Swede was matched by an impressive block from Hitz. Union coach Fischer used his fourth sub in extra time with Ken Reichel taking the place of Christopher Lenz after 105 minutes. Despite Union’s best efforts to see the half out, Dortmund’s offensive power was too much to contain. Friedrich tugged Pulisic in the final minute with Winkmann showng the central defender his second yellow card in the 118th minute. Reus stepped up from the spot and fired past Rafal Gikiewicz to knock Union Berlin out of the German Cup at the second round stage for the third year running.
