Berlin: Jadon Sancho’s sole goal was enough for Borussia Dortmund to edge Borussia Monchengladbach 1-0 in the German Cup quarterfinals.
Monchengladbach had the better start on the road as Marcus Thuram wasted Jonas Hofmann’s square pass in the box with just two minutes gone on Tuesday, Xinhua news reports. Dortmund reaped their first clear-cut chance seven minutes later, but Marco Reus’s volley missed the target at the other end of the pitch.
Both sides played within themselves after the first chances hence goalscoring opportunities remained a rare occurrence for the rest of the first half.
Thuram thought he had opened the scoring for the Foals, but his goal was ruled offside in the dying seconds of the first half.
After the restart, the game picked up pace as Dortmund had a goal from Erling Haaland disallowed due to a foul in the buildup in the 53rd minute before Dortmund goalkeeper Marwin Hitz had to tip Ramy Bensebaini’s hammer around the post six minutes later.
However, the opener was scored at the other end of the pitch as Dortmund counter-attacked a Monchengladbach corner before Jadon Sancho finished off with great assistance from the right post in the 66th minute.
Monchengladbach were shocked while Dortmund weren’t able to make the most of its chances as neither Haaland nor Hummels sealed the deal ahead of time.
As the game progressed, Monchengladbach increased the pressure but Denis Zakaria’s long-range effort lacked in accuracy while Stefan Lainer fired his shot agonizingly wide in the closing stages.
Dortmund had to complete the match with 10-men as Mahmoud Dahoud received his marching orders for his second bookable offense. Nevertheless, their defence protected the narrow lead to the end to book a spot in the German Cup semi-finals for the first time in four years.
“We played very well in the second half. Monchengladbach was better in the first half though. It is overall a deserved win for us,” Dortmund’s head coach Edin Terzic said.
“I think we played a powerful first half and prevented Dortmund from gaining a foothold into the clash. Dortmund benefitted from one mistake and won the game,” Monchengladbach head coach Marco Rose said.
–IANS
