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Haaland, Reyna goals not enough as Borussia Dortmund are knocked out of the DFB Pokal

By Tushar Bahl

04 February 2020, Bremen: Football: Werder Bremen - Borussia Dortmund Round of 16, Werders Davy Klaassen (M) v Dortmund's Erling Haaland (l). Photo: David Hecker/dpa - IMPORTANT NOTE: In accordance with the regulations of the DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga and the DFB Deutscher Fußball-Bund, it is prohibited to exploit or have exploited in the stadium and/or from the game taken photographs in the form of sequence images and/or video-like photo series. (Photo by David Hecker/picture alliance via Getty Images)
04 February 2020, Bremen: Football: Werder Bremen - Borussia Dortmund Round of 16, Werders Davy Klaassen (M) v Dortmund's Erling Haaland (l). Photo: David Hecker/dpa - IMPORTANT NOTE: In accordance with the regulations of the DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga and the DFB Deutscher Fußball-Bund, it is prohibited to exploit or have exploited in the stadium and/or from the game taken photographs in the form of sequence images and/or video-like photo series. (Photo by David Hecker/picture alliance via Getty Images) /
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Second half goals from Erling Haaland and Gio Reyna were not enough as Borussia Dortmund were handed a 3-2 defeat by Werder Bremen, knocking them out of the DFB Pokal.

Lucien Favre made four changes to the team that thrashed Union Berlin at the weekend, with Marwin Hitz, Dan Axel Zagadou, Nico Schulz and Thorgan Hazard coming into the side in place of Roman Bürki, Lukasz Piszczek, Raphael Guerreiro and Erling Haaland. Borussia Dortmund enjoyed the majority of possession in the early stages of the game, but their build-up play was laboured and did not cause too many problems to the Bremen defence.

The home side, celebrating their 121st birthday, looked dangerous every time they ventured forward. And they took the lead in the 16th minute, with Davie Selke scoring on the rebound to Milot Rashica’s shot after Achraf Hakimi was caught in possession.

04 February 2020, Bremen: Football: Werder Bremen – Borussia Dortmund round of 16, Werder’s Davie Selke (from left), Leonardo Bittencourt and Marco Friedl cheer against Dortmund. (Photo by David Hecker/picture alliance via Getty Images)
04 February 2020, Bremen: Football: Werder Bremen – Borussia Dortmund round of 16, Werder’s Davie Selke (from left), Leonardo Bittencourt and Marco Friedl cheer against Dortmund. (Photo by David Hecker/picture alliance via Getty Images) /

Bremen continued to threaten the Dortmund defence, and they doubled their lead at the half hour mark thanks to Leonardo Bittencourt’s thunderous strike from long range. The former Dortmund man’s goal sent the Weser Stadium into raptures, leaving Lucien Favre’s side staring at any early exit from the Pokal.

Favre decided to bring Erling Haaland on at half time, and the in-form striker pulled a goal back for Borussia Dortmund by tapping home Julian Brandt’s goal-bound shot/cross. Fellow substitute Gio Reyna had an excellent chance to make it 2-2 less than two minutes later, but he was denied by Jiri Pavlenka.

Moments later, Bremen doubled their lead once again as Milot Rashica, who had been threatening all game, beat the offside trap before finding the bottom corner past a hapless Marwin Hitz.

BREMEN, GERMANY – FEBRUARY 04: Giovanni Reyna celebrates his goal to the 3:2 during the DFB Cup match between SV Werder Bremen and Borussia Dortmund at the Weserstadion on October 04, 2020 in Bremen, Germany. (Photo by Alexandre Simoes/Borussia Dortmund via Getty Images)
BREMEN, GERMANY – FEBRUARY 04: Giovanni Reyna celebrates his goal to the 3:2 during the DFB Cup match between SV Werder Bremen and Borussia Dortmund at the Weserstadion on October 04, 2020 in Bremen, Germany. (Photo by Alexandre Simoes/Borussia Dortmund via Getty Images) /

Reyna made up for his earlier miss with a stunning curling effort into the far corner eight minutes later, his first senior goal for Borussia Dortmund. And he thought he had won his side a penalty soon after, and ugly scenes ensued, with Niklas Moisander shoving the young American to the ground.

After looking back at the footage, the referee decided not to give the penalty, instead booking Reyna for a dive.

Borussia Dortmund kept on pushing and had a number of chances to equalise in the closing stages of the game, but Pavlenka was there to deny Reus and Haaland from scoring.

BREMEN, GERMANY – FEBRUARY 04: Emre Can in action during the DFB Cup match between SV Werder Bremen and Borussia Dortmund at the Weserstadion on October 04, 2020 in Bremen, Germany. (Photo by Alexandre Simoes/Borussia Dortmund via Getty Images)
BREMEN, GERMANY – FEBRUARY 04: Emre Can in action during the DFB Cup match between SV Werder Bremen and Borussia Dortmund at the Weserstadion on October 04, 2020 in Bremen, Germany. (Photo by Alexandre Simoes/Borussia Dortmund via Getty Images) /

Emre Can came on for his Borussia Dortmund debut late on, but there were to be no more goals and Werder Bremen secured their passage into the quarterfinals of the Pokal.

Player Ratings: Borussia Dortmund 2-3 Werder Bremen. dark. Next

Despite their lackluster display, the defeat will be hard to swallow for Borussia Dortmund. They had enough chances to at least force extra time, but simply weren’t able to make the most of them. Attentions now turn back to the Bundesliga, where Borussia Dortmund face a tough trip to Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday.

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