Borussia Dortmund raised celebrated their fourth DFB-Pokal victory on their fourth attempt at winning it, following three consecutive losses in the final. BVB defeated Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1 to add this year’s trophy to their cabinet to go along with their Pokal wins in 1965, 1989, and 2012. Thomas Tuchel has gone twelve games undefeated with his current side, bar the loss on penalties in last year’s final. DFB.de collects the facts and stats on the 74th DFB-Pokal final.
RAISING THEIR FOURTH: BVB’s victory in the DFB-Pokal final on Saturday meant that they join three other clubs who have won the trophy a total of four times, with all the clubs tied for fourth place in terms of how many times a club has lifted the trophy. Their opponents, Frankfurt, have also won it four times (most recently in 1988), alongside 1. FC Nürnberg and 1. FC Köln. In third place are Schalke 04 with five wins to their name, and a place ahead of them are Werder Bremen with six. Bayern München have won the Pokal a record 18 titles.
FAVOURITE OPPONENTS: BVB have won 45 of their 93 games against Eintracht (16 draws, 32 losses). There’s not another club that Borussia enjoy a higher win-percentage against than Frankfurt, since the founding of the Bundesliga.
DOMINANTING THE STAT-SHEET: BVB didn’t just have their noses ahead on the scoreboard when the whistle for full time was blown – they also showed a clear advantage when it came to the statistics, with 54% possession, 63% of challenges won, and more shots on target (12 to 8).
TUCHEL (ALMOST) INVINCIBLE: It’s not just that Thomas Tuchel has never lost a Pokal game in regular or extra time with BVB – the former Mainz youth manager also won his first title at senior level. Dortmund scored their 250th and 251st goal in 107 games under Thomas Tuchel. The only blemish on his Pokal record is the 2016 final against Bayern München, which they lost 4-3 on penalties.
DREAM DUO DOES IT AGAIN: Ousmane Dembélé and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang both found the back of the net for BVB, and were both crucial parts of the attack. Dembélé was involved in five attempts on goal (three himself, two set-ups) – only Aubameyang had more attempts himself (five). After the break, the Gabon international took more shots than the whole of the Frankfurt team combined (four shots to three). Dembélé’s opening goal was the 30th goal in which he was directly involved in 49 games. Aubameyang’s game-winner was his twelfth Pokal goal in 18 games for Dortmund – only Manfred Burgsmüller has more goals for BVB in the competition (23).
REBIC EVERYWHERE: Ante Rebic was definitely Frankfurt’s main figure on Saturday night - not just because of his equaliser, but because the Croatian was involved in more duels (25) than anyone else and also had five of his side’s eight chances. Rebic also became the fourth man from his country to score in the Pokal final after Ivan Klasnic (Bremen in 2004), Mladen Petric (Dortmund in 2008) and Ivica Olic (Bayern 2010).
STARTING XI: Both managers sent sides onto the pitch who weren’t exactly used to the environment of a final. It was another reason to celebrate for Mijat Gacinovic, who recorded his first assist for Eintracht in his 43rd game in a Frankfurt shirt.
Borussia Dortmund raised celebrated their fourth DFB-Pokal victory on their fourth attempt at winning it, following three consecutive losses in the final. BVB defeated Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1 to add this year’s trophy to their cabinet to go along with their Pokal wins in 1965, 1989, and 2012. Thomas Tuchel has gone twelve games undefeated with his current side, bar the loss on penalties in last year’s final. DFB.de collects the facts and stats on the 74th DFB-Pokal final.
RAISING THEIR FOURTH: BVB’s victory in the DFB-Pokal final on Saturday meant that they join three other clubs who have won the trophy a total of four times, with all the clubs tied for fourth place in terms of how many times a club has lifted the trophy. Their opponents, Frankfurt, have also won it four times (most recently in 1988), alongside 1. FC Nürnberg and 1. FC Köln. In third place are Schalke 04 with five wins to their name, and a place ahead of them are Werder Bremen with six. Bayern München have won the Pokal a record 18 titles.
FAVOURITE OPPONENTS: BVB have won 45 of their 93 games against Eintracht (16 draws, 32 losses). There’s not another club that Borussia enjoy a higher win-percentage against than Frankfurt, since the founding of the Bundesliga.
DOMINANTING THE STAT-SHEET: BVB didn’t just have their noses ahead on the scoreboard when the whistle for full time was blown – they also showed a clear advantage when it came to the statistics, with 54% possession, 63% of challenges won, and more shots on target (12 to 8).
TUCHEL (ALMOST) INVINCIBLE: It’s not just that Thomas Tuchel has never lost a Pokal game in regular or extra time with BVB – the former Mainz youth manager also won his first title at senior level. Dortmund scored their 250th and 251st goal in 107 games under Thomas Tuchel. The only blemish on his Pokal record is the 2016 final against Bayern München, which they lost 4-3 on penalties.
DREAM DUO DOES IT AGAIN: Ousmane Dembélé and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang both found the back of the net for BVB, and were both crucial parts of the attack. Dembélé was involved in five attempts on goal (three himself, two set-ups) – only Aubameyang had more attempts himself (five). After the break, the Gabon international took more shots than the whole of the Frankfurt team combined (four shots to three). Dembélé’s opening goal was the 30th goal in which he was directly involved in 49 games. Aubameyang’s game-winner was his twelfth Pokal goal in 18 games for Dortmund – only Manfred Burgsmüller has more goals for BVB in the competition (23).
REBIC EVERYWHERE: Ante Rebic was definitely Frankfurt’s main figure on Saturday night - not just because of his equaliser, but because the Croatian was involved in more duels (25) than anyone else and also had five of his side’s eight chances. Rebic also became the fourth man from his country to score in the Pokal final after Ivan Klasnic (Bremen in 2004), Mladen Petric (Dortmund in 2008) and Ivica Olic (Bayern 2010).
STARTING XI: Both managers sent sides onto the pitch who weren’t exactly used to the environment of a final. It was another reason to celebrate for Mijat Gacinovic, who recorded his first assist for Eintracht in his 43rd game in a Frankfurt shirt.
KOVAC SURPRISES: Eintracht coach Kovac sprung a surprise in his starting line-up, giving a place in it to Slobodan Medojevic, who started for the first time since March 12th 2016.
SERIES: Frankfurt have now lost all three Pokal finals when they have conceded first and have conceded at least one goal in each of their last 10 games of the season - their longest run of consecutive conceding since 2014). Dortmund only kept one clean sheet in their last 11 games (0-0 with Köln on April 29), conceding 21 goals in that same time period.
TOPSCORER JUST A SPECTATOR: While Dortmund and Frankfurt battled it out for the Pokal trophy, the top scorer of this season’s competition was watching on at home. Bayern’s Robert Lewandowski found the back of the net more times than anyone else throughout the course of the 2016/17 Pokal (5). The top assister from this season’s competition was also absent from Berlin, as Franck Ribery, who set up four goals in the 2016/17 DFB Pokal campaign joined Lewandowski in being knocked out by Dortmund 3-2 in the semi-finals.
