Marco Reus winner helps Borussia Dortmund beat Hoffenheim and secure DFB-Pokal round of 16 spot
By Tushar Bahl
Borussia Dortmund are through to the third round of the DFB-Pokal after Marco Reus’ first-half winner helped them earn a relatively comfortable 1-0 win over Hoffenheim.
The Black and Yellows prepared for Der Klassiker with a 1-0 win over TSG Hoffenheim on Wednesday, with Marco Reus coming up with the winning goal towards the end of the first-half. Borussia Dortmund were comfortably the better team over the course of the 90 minutes and the away side didn’t really manage to trouble Gregor Kobel’s goal after the initial exchanges of the game.
Edin Terzic made a string of changes to the side that played out a 3-3 draw against Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday, with Youssoufa Moukoko, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Niklas Süle, Gio Reyna, and Julian Brandt among those getting the chance to play from the start. Gregor Kobel managed to shake off his facial injury to line up between the sticks.
The game started at a very high tempo and Hoffenheim nearly took the lead inside the opening 90 seconds. But a big save from Kobel followed by an excellent goal-line clearance from Nico Schlotterbeck on the rebound kept the scores level.
It was all Borussia Dortmund after the early stages of the game, with Moukoko and Reyna looking especially lively. Bynoe-Gittens also got into some really good positions, skipping past Hoffenheim defenders at will on numerous occasions.
And the home side’s dominance was rewarded in the closing stages of the first-half, as Marco Reus dinked the ball into the net after some good play from Reyna and Bynoe-Gittens. The former captain’s goal gave BVB a narrow lead going into the break.
The second-half started much like the first one ended, with Bynoe-Gittens coming close to doubling Borussia Dortmund’s lead. The talented English winger then set up Moukoko, who forced a good save from Oliver Baumann.
Borussia Dortmund player ratings from 1-0 win vs Hoffenheim. dark. Next
Borussia Dortmund had a number of decent openings on the counter-attack in the second-half, and also managed to take the sting out of the game in the closing stages with relative ease. Hoffenheim never really looked like scoring in the second-half, and the game ended with a 1-0 win for BVB. Their reward is a spot in the DFB-Pokal round of 16, with the tie set to take place in December.