The recently troubled Bundesliga club RB Leipzig celebrated an Easter-worthy resurrection during Holy Week. After a series of three defeats in all competitions, which were garnished with 0:11 goals, Leipzig defeated Champions League rivals Borussia Dortmund 2:0 in the quarter-finals of the DFB Cup.
BVB had to accept the next serious disappointment a few weeks after the Champions League exit and four days after the bitter 4-2 draw in the top game at FC Bayern, which compromised the options for the Bundesliga title. Dortmund experienced one blackout after the other – first metaphorically on the pitch, then also literally: because the lights went out briefly in the Leipzig Arena after the 75th minute.
Leipzig’s victory had one name in particular: Dani Olmo, who was available for a starting XI for the first time since tearing a muscle fiber in the last few days of January. Olmo organised, dribbled, passed, shot and was so playful that one had to think he had missed something during the long weeks of convalescence. Right from the start he directed an enormous pressing – and was thus the driving force behind an astonishingly aggressive early phase in Leipzig. If Gregor Kobel hadn’t been in Dortmund’s goal, who was obviously determined to prove that he had forgotten his misstep on Saturday when it was 4-2 in Munich, Leipzig would have taken the lead very early.
Kobel saved against Konrad Laimer, against Olmo or Dominik Szoboszlai. And had to admit defeat in the 22nd minute when, of all people, Timo Werner, of all people, pushed the ball into the goal with his first touch of the game after a low cross from Mohamed Simakan to make it 1-0. This suggested that the people of Leipzig would declare their ordeal of the past few weeks over.
Especially since their dominance continued even after the 1-0 lead, although the pace wasn’t as hellish as it was in the early minutes. One of the few positive insights for Dortmund at half-time, in addition to Kobel’s grandiose performance, was that the DFB Cup regulations say nothing about participating clubs that only send a hologram instead of a flesh-and-blood team. And secondly, that the backlog remained manageable.
Dortmund’s efforts have no effect against Leipzig
Only: That remained without any effect. BVB coach Edin Terzic sent young striker Youssoufa Moukoko onto the field for the restart, which resulted in a system change. Terzic replaced right-back Marius Wolf, and the four-man defense became a three-man chain. The lack of a figure in the defense increased Dortmund’s vigilance in the game against the ball. However, the inclusion of the offensive power Moukoko did not initially mean that Dortmund’s attack also deserved the name. On the contrary: when stoppage time was called, Dortmund hadn’t had a single chance to score. Beyond that, Olmo kept looking and finding what he needed to remind Dortmund of their vulnerability: spaces, also between the Dortmund lines.
That only decreased when Terzic reminded the audience that a certain Julian Brandt had been on the score sheet by substituting him as well. The English midfielder Jude Bellingham came on for the international after just over an hour, bringing a little more structure to Dortmund’s game. But that wasn’t nearly enough. And it didn’t change when RB coach Marco Rose was forced to take Olmo off. Even before the game it was said that the Spaniard did not have enough strength for 90 minutes after his injury break.
Emil Forsberg came on for Olmo and the Swede knew how to fill the gap left by Olmo. Especially when he initiated a counterattack in the final phase with an acrobatic heel kick that almost led to the overdue 2-0. Alone: Kobel was there when Konrad Laimer ran up to him alone – and again proved to be the only Dortmund player who was equal to the Leipzig team. Only in injury time did Dortmund score a dangerous shot on goal, by Jamie Bynoe-Gittens. The corner resulted in Leipzig’s overdue second goal because Kobel had rushed into the Leipzig penalty area. Willi Orban netted into the orphaned Dortmund goal after a counterattack.
