The final is set: Borussia Dortmund will join RB Leipzig at the Olympiastadion on Thursday, 13 May and fight for the DFB-Pokal title at 20:45 CEST. The boys in black and yellow left Holstein Kiel absolutely no chance in the second semi-final on Saturday night, putting five goals past the second division side who had eliminated Bayern in the second round and reaching their first cup final since 2017.
Dortmund showed ruthlessness and effectiveness from the get-go. With goals in the 16th, 22nd, 26th, 32nd and 42nd minutes, practically every shot found the back of the net, leaving Holstein Kiel, 80 years on from their first semi-final appearance (6-0 loss vs. Schalke), well beaten by half time.
Kiel showed courage, but Dortmund showed no mercy
The game began as many might have expected: BVB tried to use their quality to dominate possession and play their way through the second-division opponents, who in turn worked hard at the back and waited for opportunities to hit Dortmund on the break. The favourites had the better of the game early on, but Holstein Kiel had no intention of hiding. The first chance only came in the 16th minute and resulted in the first goal, as Jadon Sancho played in Giovanni Reyna who was allowed the space to place his shot firmly into the far corner from 15 yards.
Not long after, Dortmund scored with their second chance of the game: Marco Reus took the ball to the by-line and backheeled it into the mix, where a further backheel from Guerreiro gave Reyna an open net to tap into for his second. Just four minutes later, the game was practically put out of reach for Kiel, as Reus got on the scoresheet himself and made it 3-0. At the other end, Fabian Reese, formerly of FC Schalke 04, hit the post from 18 yards (27’). A little reminder for Dortmund that Kiel would not go down without a fight.
Take nothing away from Dortmund‘s quality, but everything seemed to be going against Holstein Kiel, who have two corona-related team quarantine spells behind them. After 29 minutes, their top scorer in the competition Janni Serra was forced off with an injury, a blow which was soon followed by Dortmund’s fourth courtesy of Thorgan Hazard (32’). Dortmund’s fifth from Jude Bellingham in the 42nd minute just about summed up the first half: The hosts played their way into a string of shooting positions beautifully, and with Kiel finally seeming to have survived an attack, the Englishman’s shot from outside the area deflected off Simon Lorenz and past a helpless Thomas Dähne.
Dortmund see the game out
After a 15 minute break and a change of ends, BVB considerably lowered the intensity, which allowed Holstein Kiel to get themselves out of the rut and stop conceding. The visitors had more sights at goal as a result, but never really troubled the goalkeeper, and while Dortmund continued to ooze class on the ball, they too failed to create anything worthy of extending the already unassailable lead.
There was some bad news for Dortmund as well, however, as Mateu Morey appeared to suffer a serious knee injury and was carried off in the 74th minute.
