Dortmund beat Bayern in shoot-out drama

Bayern Munich 1-1 Borussia Dortmund (Dortmund win 2-0 on pens)
(Lewandowski 29' - Aubameyang 75')

It's not often that truly unbelievable moments in sport align with the end of eras, but Dortmund's head coach Jürgen Klopp is a man who seems forever tied to the remarkable.

For 75 minutes, the fight that Klopp had promised was far from evident and it looked like Klopp's BVB era was coming to a sad, quiet end. His side showed plenty of early discipline and hemmed Bayern in between the halfway line and their own area, but the hosts were in control. Early promise has not delivered much success for BVB this season and so it proved to be the case again. Shinji Kagawa ambitiously opted to pass left instead of right near the edge of Bayern'x box, and Bayern pounced. With Marco Reus' his hands in the air, Ilkay Gündogan jogging back and Mats Hummels and Sokratis scattered, Robert Lewandowski was left onside. The Polish striker's first shot hit the post, but with Mitch Langerak scrambling and both Hummels and Sokratis moving off the line, Lewandowski showed his class to tuck in his third goal in four games against his former club.

Bayern's control continued. Lewandowski tried an audacious chip, then in the second half Thomas Müller was denied by a strong save from Langerak. The game was winding towards a rather predictable conclusion. Bayern were minutes away from a second, decisive goal, but then referee Peter Gagelmann failed to notice a clear handball by Marcel Schmelzer in the box. Pep Guardiola struggled to be constrained.

Momentum change

With Bayern feeling hard done by, the game's magic began to appear. Off the bench, Henrik Mkhitaryan was free to cross the ball low in behind the six defensive men in Bayern's area. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was on hand at the back post to slide it over the line despite a Neuer parry and just like that, against the run of play, Dortmund were level in Munich. The goal acted like a defibrillator for Dortmund, shocking them back into life.

It took a magical save from Neuer to deny Reus the winner, before the former denied the latter once more after fine play from the fresh-legged Kevin Kampl. For the final 15 minutes, tired legs didn't hinder the excitement that had been absent in first 75. Bayern were rattled and Dortmund finally looked like they were up for the fight. On the back foot, Bayern's luck went from bad to worse as Arjen Robben had to be brought off only 16 minutes after returning from injury.

And on the drama went, spilling over into extra-time. Substitute Bastian Schweinsteiger missed a glorious header at the back post, Kevin Kampl made the error of lunging unecessarily on a yellow, and saw red, before Langerak then matched his opposite number, denying Schweinsteiger with a brilliant reflex save.

With chances missed and the tension higher than ever, there was still the lingering feeling of just how painful a penalty shoot-out defeat would be for Borussia Dortmund. Bayern had controlled the game and been the dominant side, but Dortmund were still in with a chance of winning. When Philipp Lahm slipped and put the first spot kick over, most were surprised. When Xabi Alonso did the same, disbelief crept in and when Langerak saved from Mario Götze, it suddenly became clear that Dortmund were simply just not going to be denied. Hummels couldn't prove the match winner after Gündogan and Sebastian Kehl had both scored, but when Neuer clattered the bar, Bayern were left without a converted penalty in four attempts and the dreams of another treble instantly disappeared. For Klopp, the dream of returning to Dortmund's famous Borsigplatz one more time lives on.