Home   >   MOTDs   >   MOTD- Borussia Dortmund 3-2 Malaga

MOTD- Borussia Dortmund 3-2 Malaga

By on April 9, 2013

Borussia Dortmund have, incredibly, come back from behind with two injury time goals to beat Malaga 3-2 and seal a place in the Champions League semifinals, after all of their hard work in the competition looked to had been erased when Eliseu put Malaga ahead in the eighty-second minute. The match started slowly, with Malaga keeping possession of the ball in Dortmund half and their German opponents barely saw the ball in the opening five minutes. Dortmund slowly started to feel their way into the game and began to look very dangerous, but it was Malaga who opened the scoring when Joaquin got on the end of a string of three passes after Dortmund had failed to clear the ball. Joaquin cut the ball across his body to his left foot, and hit a low effort through the legs of Neven Subotic. Subotic blocked Willy’s view, allowing the shot to creep into the bottom right corner of the net.

Dortmund bounced back from the goal, maintaining possession for minutes at a time. The German side managed to find an equalizer in the fortieth minute, with Mario Gotze storming down the left flank before cutting it back to Marco Reus, who beautifully put Lewandowski in on goal with a backheel flick. Lewandowski rounded Willy, and coolly slotted it into the back of the net. Despite Dortmund looking the better side, Malaga almost equalized in the last seconds of the half with Duda’s free-kick finding Joaquin inside the box, who headed on goal from the center of the box, forcing Weidenfeller into a spectacular diving save to push the ball over. Malaga couldn’t score though, and after two minutes of added time the first half ended 1-1.

With a much higher tempo, the second half was much more open than the first, with Malaga almost scoring in the forty-eighth minute through Joaquin when Duda’s free-kick from the left found Martin Demichelis at the far post, who headed it across goal to Joaquin. Joaquin headed towards the bottom left corner, and Weidenfeller amazingly managed to get a hand to it to push it wide. Seconds later Dortmund almost took the lead with Sergio Sanchez’s misplaced header putting Gotze through on goal, who volleyed high and wide from four yards out, wasting the chance.

Dortmund were in complete control of the match, and forced a ludicrous save out of Willy in the seventy-sixth minute when Reus tapped Lukasz Piszczsek’s low cross towards the near post when Willy was diving the other way. It looked like it was in, but Willy’s trailing leg just managed to tip it wide. Seconds later Gotze was denied by an even better save from Willy, when the winger was put in on goal and steered the ball to the far post. Willy managed to poke just wide with his big toe though, again saving the day for Malaga. Amazingly, the Spanish side managed to grab the lead when Isco’s pass found Julio Babtista running into the penalty area, and Babtista hit a shot that was rolling just wide of the far post, before Eliseu tapped it into the open net after coming from an offside position. The goal stood though, and Malaga celebrated wildly as they seemed to have clinched a spot in the semifinals, with Dortmund needing two goals to progress.

With all hope of the semifinals looking gone, Dortmund entered the four minutes of injury time announced by the fourth official 2-1 down. Amazingly, the German side managed to equalize in the first minute of injury time when Subotic latched on to a long ball five yards out from goal, and the center-back squared the ball to Santana, and although Santana was tackled, it fell to Reus, who struck the ball into the back of the open net. Dortmund still needed a goal though, and they incredibly got one in the third minute of injury time from a goal-mouth scramble following Lewandowski’s cross from the left. It fell to Santana approximately one inch out from goal (but offside), and Santana, while on the ground, kicked the ball into the back of the net to give Dortmund an incredible 3-2 lead. When the final whistle blew a few seconds later, scenes of euphoria spread though the crowd at the Westfalenstadion as Dortmund sealed a spot in the Champions League semifinals.
Man of the Match: Robert Lewandowski

Lewandowski rounds Willy before poking home Dortmund's first goal of the half

Lewandowski rounds Willy before poking home Dortmund’s first goal of the half

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.