German Cup: Sancho fires Dortmund into final four

Borussia Mönchengladbach 0-1 Borussia Dortmund, Borussia-Park
(Sancho 66’)

The meeting of the Borussias is often a testy and absorbing affair – and this latest chapter didn’t disappoint.

A high-octane game was settled by a swift and devastating Dortmund counter-attack, which was finished by Jadon Sancho. It was a goal that showcased all of Dortmund’s best qualities in one fluid move: speed, quick-thinking and crisp finishing – but Gladbach can’t say they weren’t warned.

Dortmund’s big two chances of the game before had already fallen to Erling Haaland and both were the result of swiftly turning defense into attack. The first was a rare miscue by the Norwegian as he showed Nico Elvedi a clean pair of heels but somehow stubbed his shot wide. The second was another lightning breakaway which ended with Haaland slamming in Marco Reus’ cross from close range, but VAR intervened, adjudging a foul in the build-up.

When Dortmund created their next chance, they didn't let Gladbach off the hook. Sancho kept his cool to slot the ball past Yann Sommer and watched as it went in off the inside of the post. 

It wasn't just a night when Dortmund's attacking talent shone through. Mats Hummels was rock solid at the back alongside Emre Can, who barely put a foot wrong in a position he has only limited experience in. And when called upon, goalkeeper Marvin Hitz was equal to whatever Gladbach threw at him.

Captain Reus spoke at full time of a "different energy" since the Champions League victory in Sevilla, which came just a couple of days after Marco Rose was confirmed as their next coach. 

Gladbach's downward spiral

That "different energy" is also felt by Gladbach, but not quite in the same way. It was another night to rue their lack of the same killer instinct in the kind of game they were winning earlier in the season. In fact, they put four goals past the same opponents back in January.

But a lot has changed since then. Since Gladbach confirmed that coach Marco Rose would be swapping Borussias, his team have lost four games in a row. Gladbach’s abysmal runstretches back to their derby defeat by Cologne, which set the Foals on the path to a winless streak that now stretches to six games – including five defeats.

This defeat signals the death of their ambitions in the German Cup for another season, a competition they haven’t won since 1995, and applies the pressure on their coach, who is now overseeing a sequence of results worse than in any time of his tenure.

Rather than arriving at Dortmund, who have won all of their games since the Rose announcement, as a coach at the top of his game, Rose appears to powerless to stem the flow of poor results with a growing sense thathis fine work at Gladbach is unravelling.