Goals from Shinji Kagawa, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang mean that Jürgen Klopp and Sebastian Kehl's Bundesliga careers come to an end on a positive note as Borussia Dortmund beat Werder Bremen 3-2 at Signal Iduna Park.
In an early spell of pressure from Dortmund, Mkhitaryan fired low following a inch of space but Koen Casteels did well to save. The danger hadn’t passed as Marco Reus burst past Lukimya and passed across the face of the goal, Aubameyang missed the ball before Mkhitaryan’s second shot in a matter of seconds was well blocked.
Bremen fought back, looking to secure their Europa League spot but they had Hoffenheim hot on their trails, as the ball pinballed around the Dortmund penalty area before Junuzovic fired wide.
On Jürgen Klopp’s final game of the season, Dortmund pushed for the opener. Brilliant build up play from Die Borussien saw them in Werder’s final third, Marco Reus found his team mate Aubameyang who brilliantly executed a volley only to be denied by the woodwork.
But then, after fifteen minutes of play the dead lock was broken, Ilkay Gundogan who passed to the Japanese international after the Turk capitalised on a mistake in the Werder Bremen defence on, Kagawa beat one defender before confidently putting it past Casteels. A minute later, it was 2-0. Shinji Kagawa turned provider and set through the Gabon international Aubameyang, netting his sixteenth goal this season.
It wasn’t all plain sailing for Dortmund, just after twenty-five minutes, Bremen pegged a goal back. Leon Ozuntali the scorer. The goalscorer spun the Borussia Dortmund captain – who earlier in the week committed his future at the Westfalenstadion – but the German was left for dead and Ozuntali finished well .
But the goal didn’t stop Dortmund from attacking. The Gabonese Goalscorer met a brilliant diagonal cross from Erik Durm but he failed to connect with it and his header went wide.
Five minutes before half time, Durm again was the creator, the young left back burst down the right flank pulling back to Marco Reus, but he failed to get a good connection on the strike and his shot turned out to be an easy save for Casteels.
It soon became 3-1 however, the Armenian Henrik Mkhitaryan who cheekily chipped over the on-coming Casteels, following Marco Reus’ perfectly diagonal pass, rounding off a brilliant counter attack from Borussia Dortmund.
At half time, it was 3-1 to Borussia Dortmund on the day Sebastian Kehl and manager Jürgen Klopp said their farewell’s after two tremendous Borussia Dortmund careers.
In the second half, Dortmund’s aggressive style of play continued. Their first chance came eight minutes into the second half following brilliant possession in and around the Werder Bremen box, it fell to the duty of Marco Reus who forced a diving save out of Koen Casteels.
It wasn’t long before Werder exchanged the pressure. Finn Bartels found an extra bit of space and unleashed a venomous curling effort just missing the attempted block of Mats Hummels but Bartels failed to test Roman Weidenfeller who made his first appearance for Borussia Dortmund since suffering a finger injury which kept him out of the last two Bundesliga matches.
Weidenfeller was called into action a few minutes later, goalscorer Leon Ozuntali found himself in acres of space, he so nearly made it 3-2 only to be denied by the veteran stopper.
After the hour mark, Borussia Dortmund were on the ascendancy once again, this time it was the cross bar to deny Klopp’s side.
Prior to that, Reus and Aubameyang linked up again but the Gabon striker scuffed his shot, Mkhitaryan fired goalwards beating Casteels all ends up but it was the crossbar that came to Werder’s rescue.
Not shortly after that, Casteels was tested again, Mkhitaryan teed up Aubameyang who fired low but Casteels got enough behind the ball to divert it for a corner.
Pushing for an avenue back into the game, Bremen upped their ante. It wasn’t long till they got the second goal. Subotic and Lorenzen got tangled which resulted in the Bremen free kick.
Dead-ball Specialist Junuzovic swung in the cross and no more than five unmarked Bremen players followed the free-kick into the box, it was defender Gebre Selassie who got on the end of the delivery completely wrong footing Weidenfeller in goal.
The referee signalled for three additional minutes and that’s all she wrote. An encapsulating 90 minutes was brought to a close marking a brilliant Borussia Dortmund performance and the end of an era.