This match was played at the Signal Iduna Park, as Dortmund hosted Hoffenheim with a place in the semi-finals of the DFB-Pokal up for grabs. After a quiet first fifteen minutes of football on the clock, the match suddenly burst into life with two quick-fire goals in the space of two minutes. Centre-back Neven Subotic broke the deadlock with a close-range volley from a corner-kick. Then just moments later, Kevin Volland levelled the scoring with almost a carbon-copy strike as Subotic', but at the other end of the pitch to make it 1-1.

In the 28th minute and on the counter attack, Hoffenheim hit the hosts to devastating effect. An unfortunate mistake from goalscorer Subotic allowed Brazilian creative midfielder Roberto Firmino in on goal, with only goalkeeper Mitchell Langerak left to beat. He chipped the ball over the Australian youngster, and watched as his audacious effort floated into the back of the net before he wheeled away to celebrate his cheeky finish to put the visitors in-front.

The Yellow Wall was still as loud as ever in the stadium as they encouraged their team to try and find an equaliser before the break. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang came closest with a few goal-scoring opportunities thanks to some nice interchanging play between Shinji Kagawa and Henrikh Mkhitaryan in and around the area, but at the interval, Hoffenheim were in the lead.

In the second-half, Dortmund were eager to get back into the match and fashioned a few half-chances, most of which were dealt with by Oliver Baumann in the Hoffenheim goal. The hosts upped the attacking intensity as they were desperate to find a leveller, and eventually they got one. Erik Durm's inviting delivery into the box teased the movement of Aubameyang, whose header from close range flew into the corner of the net, out of Baumann's reach. For once in the game, it appeared as though Dortmund were going to then go on and take control from then.

Sokratis and Blaszcykowski were both denied by good saves from Baumann, who did his best to thwart the hosts' goal-scoring opportunities. Hoffenheim came close late on as Polanski's low effort curled towards the bottom corner, but the Polish midfielder was denied by a good low diving stop from Langerak with minutes left of normal time to play.

As the referee blew the whistle to signal another thirty minutes left to play, tension was etched across the face of most players, who were just eager to push their side to victory and were not prepared for another 30 minutes of time to try and separate the two sides. Tired legs accounted for silly mistakes and rash challenges, meaning a few players went into the referee's book as the majority of extra-time was played at a stop-start pace. However, a brilliant piece of technique from substitute midfielder Sebastian Kehl settled the score between the two clubs in the 108th minute, where his half-volley from 25 yards out fired into the bottom corner of the net, Baumann could simply do nothing to stop the wonder strike.

At the final whistle, manager Jurgen Klopp ran onto the pitch and congratulated his players - a great sight to see and a pleasing one for a side that were branded in a "crisis" not too long ago. He hugged Kehl after his wonder strike had sealed their semi-final date in the weeks to come, meaning there is still a golden opportunity for a piece of silverware in what has been an unpredictable season for Dortmund, currently eyeing the Europa League qualification spots.

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About the author
Mosope Ominiyi
Writer and editor - European football analyst, youth enthusiast. Email: [email protected]