JUST-IN: Ruthless Dortmund crowned DFB-Pokal champions
Borussia Dortmund were crowned DFB-Pokal champions for the fifth time after sinking RB Leipzig 4-1 in the final on Thursday evening.
Dortmund were boosted by the return of Haaland from injury, among the three changes that included shot-stopper Roman Burki and Jude Bellingham while Leipzig recalled Marcel Halstenberg, Amadou Haidara, Alexander Sorloth and Nordi Mukiele.
Edin Terzic’s charges had a perfect start after Sancho gave them the lead in the fifth minute with a low strike across goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi after he was teed up by Mahmoud Dahoud inside the box.
Erling Haaland 🇳🇴 is loving life at Dortmund 💛 #RBLBVB pic.twitter.com/tIUMyqi0Tf
— RouteOneFootball (@Route1futbol) May 13, 2021
Leipzig were growing in the game after going behind but they were caught on a counter-attack just before the half-hour mark as Haaland doubled Dortmund’s lead with a low left-footed finish into the top corner after bursting his way inside the box.
Julian Nagelsmann’s troops were creating chances but they were caught on the break again, as Sancho made it 3-0 for Dortmund and grabbed his brace on the stroke of half-time with a strike into an empty net after Marco Reus raced clear on goal and played him a square pass.
Leipzig had a good reaction coming from the break as Christopher Nkunku, who replaced Hwang Hee-Chan at half-time came close to pulling a goal back two minutes inside the second stanza with a volley over Burki that came off the crossbar.
Nkunku came the closest again to getting a goal back for Nagelsmann’s charges just before the hour-mark with a first-time strike from Yussuf Poulsen’s cut-back that was saved by Burki.
🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 Turned out to be the latter!
👏 Congratulations, Borussia Dortmund!pic.twitter.com/Xhoh96kkAv https://t.co/4LLcDUedhi
— FIFA.com (@FIFAcom) May 13, 2021
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Leipzig made a double change immediately after that, as Emil Forsberg came on for Kevin Kampl while Konrad Laimer replaced Mukiele, both for fresh legs.
Dani Olmo finally pulled a goal back for the Red Bulls in the last 19 minutes with a strike into the top corner from a recycle after Forsberg hit the post.
However, Haaland rounded off the scoring for Dortmund in the last three minutes with an unusual finish, as he slipped before wrong-footing Gulacsi from Reus’ square pass as BVB were crowned champions for the fifth time.