Christian Pulisic, Andre Schürrle and Marcel Schmelzer found the net as Dortmund made light work of Sportfreunde Lotte. Thomas Tuchel’s side will now face Bayern Munich in the last four on April 26.Sportfreunde Lotte 0-3 Borussia Dortmund
(Pulisic 57′, Schürrle 66′, Schmelzer 83′)
Borussia Dortmund ended Sportfreunde Lotte’s valiant German Cup run with a 3-0 victory in Osnabrueck, setting up a Klassiker last four showdown with Bayern Munich.
The game was controversially moved to Osnatel-Arena after the initial match was called off because of snow. And while Lotte started well and put Dortmund under some early pressure, the underdogs lost their secret weapon in having to play away from their home stadium, Sportpark am Lotter Kreuz.
Lotte could have taken a shock early lead in the 24th minute when Tim Wendel beat the offside trap, but saw his shot come back off Roman Bürki, who was out quickly to spread himself.
Dortmund, who fielded a strong team but were still without regulars Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Julian Weigl, realized they were in a contest about midway through the first half. That’s when Raphael Guerreiro carved out some space on the edge of the box and drilled low shot narrowly wide.
Thomas Tuchel’s side improved after the break and took the lead 12 minutes after the restart – and the goal oozed quality. Ousmane Dembele dispossessed Andre Dej and attacked the Lotte box and produced a nonchalant reverse pass to set up Christian Pulisic, who calmly slotted the ball under the advancing Lotte goalkeeper Benedikt Fernandez.
Lotte, who beat 1860 Munich to reach the last eight of the competition, struggled to create anything of note against Dortmund, who doubled their lead shortly before the hour mark. The goal came courtesy of Andre Schürrle, who turned the ball in from close range after Guerreiro nodded back Shinji Kagawa’s cross.
Marcel Schmelzer’s late free kick put the icing on the cake for Dortmund, who now have a date with the defending champions.
Lotte 0-3 Dortmund – as it happened:
