VfL Wolfsburg crowned a fine season with a solid 3-1 victory against Borussia Dortmund in the DFB-Pokalfinale.
This ruined what could have been a glorious end to coach Jürgen Klopp’s Dortmund reign, but the VWs deserved the win.
The Neons got a dream start as Kagawa fired in a quick cross to an open Aubameyang, who finished easily.
Wolfsburg wasn’t bothered too much by the early goal, and quickly forced Langerak to make a couple of fine saves. Marco Reus then missed a sitter after another perfect lead-in by Kagawa, but was the last real chance for Dortmund to seize control of the match. The VWs then turned the match in a 15 minute period.
After a thumping Naldo freekick was parried by Langerak, Luiz Gustavo slammed home the rebound as the BVB defense was slow to react. Then Kevin de Bruyne, Wolfsburg’s most brilliant player all season, fired in a rocket for the VW lead.
Dortmund had a couple of decent chances to get back in the 2nd period, but Wolfsburg was also denied from finishing off the match by Langerak and a save off the line.
At the end, a deserved win for Wolfsburg, their first DFB-Pokal title. Of course the VWs are already directly qualified for the Champions League group phase as Bundesliga runner-up, so the Euroliga spot is left behind. Dortmund receives the spot, but since they don’t go as winners, they have to go into the Euroliga qualification, which is probably as worthless as the old Intertoto. (Not to mention that the Euroliga itself is totally worthless). Ironically, since Dortmund drops to qualification, their rival Schalke gets bumped up into the Euroliga group phase.
Borussia Dortmund:
Langerak -
Durm, Subotic, Hummels, Schmelzer -
Kehl, Gündogan -
H. Mkhitaryan, Kagawa, Reus -
Aubameyang
Subs:
68. Blaszczykowski ("Kuba") for Kehl
68. Piszczek for Durm
79. Immobile for Reus
VfL Wolfsburg:
Benaglio -
Vieirinha, Naldo, Klose, Rodriguez -
Arnold, Luiz Gustavo -
Perisic, De Bruyne, D. Caligiuri -
Dost
Subs:
74. Guilavogui for Perisic
81. Schürrle for Arnold
85. Träsch for D. Caligiuri
Scoring:
1:0 Aubameyang (5., Kagawa)
1:1 Luiz Gustavo (22., Naldo)
1:2 De Bruyne (33., D. Caligiuri)
1:3 Dost (38., Perisic)
Yellow cards:
Dortmund: H. Mkhitaryan, Schmelzer
Wolfsburg: De Bruyne, Vieirinha
Referee: Dr. Felix Brych (München)
Attendance: 75,815 (sold out), Olympia-stadion, Berlin