A cheeky panenka penalty from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was enough to land Borussia Dortmund the 2017 DFB-Pokal after a 2-1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt at the Olympiastadion in Berlin.
The Gabon international and Bundesliga top scorer calmly stepped up from twelve yards midway through the second half after Frankurt goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky had fouled Christian Pulisic.
Ousmane Dembele had given Thomas Tuchel’s side the lead early on, only for Ante Rebic to equalise for Niko Kovac’s Frankfurt just before the half hour mark.
The Pokal is Dortmund’s first trophy since 2012 and the first for Tuchel since he took charge at the start of 2015/16.
As the sun set behind the back of the Olympiastadion, those in yellow shone brightest in the opening moments, with Marco Reus almost setting up Aubameyang inside the first few minutes as Tuchel’s side poured forward with confidence.
That early pressure was rewarded after just six minutes, when Dembele opened the scoring with a finish worthy of a final.
Having collected the ball on the byline, the Frenchman cut inside before rifling into the top left hand corner from a tight angle - a strike not too dissimilar from the one which secured his side’s place in Saturday’s showpiece against Bayern last month.
Frankfurt grew into the game slowly, and it took a point blank save from Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Bürki to deny Timothy Chandler after the striker had originally failed to connect with a cross from Rebic.
A cheeky panenka penalty from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was enough to land Borussia Dortmund the 2017 DFB-Pokal after a 2-1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt at the Olympiastadion in Berlin.
The Gabon international and Bundesliga top scorer calmly stepped up from twelve yards midway through the second half after Frankurt goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky had fouled Christian Pulisic.
Ousmane Dembele had given Thomas Tuchel’s side the lead early on, only for Ante Rebic to equalise for Niko Kovac’s Frankfurt just before the half hour mark.
The Pokal is Dortmund’s first trophy since 2012 and the first for Tuchel since he took charge at the start of 2015/16.
As the sun set behind the back of the Olympiastadion, those in yellow shone brightest in the opening moments, with Marco Reus almost setting up Aubameyang inside the first few minutes as Tuchel’s side poured forward with confidence.
That early pressure was rewarded after just six minutes, when Dembele opened the scoring with a finish worthy of a final.
Having collected the ball on the byline, the Frenchman cut inside before rifling into the top left hand corner from a tight angle - a strike not too dissimilar from the one which secured his side’s place in Saturday’s showpiece against Bayern last month.
Frankfurt grew into the game slowly, and it took a point blank save from Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Bürki to deny Timothy Chandler after the striker had originally failed to connect with a cross from Rebic.
It was the Croatian who then brought proceedings level just before the half hour mark, calmly slotting home after being set through by Mijat Gaucinovic, and the side who finished 12th in the league almost turned the final on its head moments later when Haris Seferovic hit the post with Bürki well beaten.
Dortmund were stronger after the restart kicking towards their own fans and Jesus Vallejo had to scramble to block a Pulisic effort from inside the six yard box.
This year’s Champions League’s Quarterfinalists kept pressing, and came even closer to regaining their lead through Aubameyang, who could only look on in frustration as his acrobatic effort was turned onto the crossbar by Vallejo after the hour mark.
The pressure tolled eventually, though, and when Hradecky bundled over Pulisic, it was left to Aubameyang to coolly chip the ball home, sending the Eintracht stopper the wrong way to end Borussia’s five year trophy drought.
