Chapter 229: German Cup Final Four

Back in the Bundesliga, on February 16, in the 22nd round of the Bundesliga, Dortmund hosted Eintracht Frankfurt.

After 90 minutes, the score on the big screen was 3-0, and Cheng Hai scored a hat-trick to cover all three goals of the team.

Although the team won the goal, the number of goals was not much, and Gundogan's injury had a greater impact on Cheng Hai.

Shaheen was originally the core of Dortmund's organization, but after a trip to Real Madrid and back on loan, his performance was much worse.

But no matter what, the game was always won.

After the 22nd round of the league against Eintracht Frankfurt, everyone got a relatively long rest, and it was not until February 24, the 23rd round of the league, that Dortmund welcomed the away game against Borussia Mönchengladbach.

Gundogan's return was mediocre in this game, with one assist and finally helped Dortmund to a 3-1 away victory.

Cheng Hai scored a brace and an assist.

The next game is a blockbuster matchup: the fourth round of the German Cup, the quarter-finals of Bayern Munich vs Dortmund.

The German Cup is staged in the German national derby.

In the last league game, Dortmund only beat Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-1 away, while Bayern Munich beat Werder Bremen 6-1 at home, and their form is very hot.

This German Cup is Bayern Munich's home stadium again, and it is really hard to say whether Dortmund can win and defend the German Cup.

However, no matter what, the whole team of Dortmund must do their best to win, reach the final, win the title, and sprint towards the six crowns of the season that Barcelona has not achieved.

On February 27, 2013, the Allianz Arena was still full even though the weather temperature was around 0 degrees.

The Allianz Stadium, which can accommodate more than 75,000 people, except for four or five thousand Dortmund fans and two or three thousand overseas Chinese, the other more than 60,000 people are almost all Bayern fans.

Although Bayern Munich, the Bundesliga hegemon in recent seasons, has struggled to find a win at the hands of Dortmund, they have not abandoned the team and still do their best to cheer for the team in every German national derby.

It's just that the pre-match provocation from the Dortmund fans was not as arrogant as before.

But once they win and roll over once, it's their turn to sneer at Dortmund. In any case, the atmosphere of the German National Derby in the 1/4 finals of the German Cup is still relatively warm.

Bayern fans desperately need a national derby win to reclaim their Bundesliga supremacy.

As the sworn enemy of the national derby and its own home turf, Bayern Munich will naturally not coax and shrink the defense like other teams, but bravely fight against Dortmund.

They have that strength too.

In the backline, Manuel Neuer, Boateng, Kontento, Lahm, Tymoshchuk and Gustavo are all stars at the back.

Martinez, Arjen Robben, Ribery, Gomez, and Thomas Muller in the midfield are also attacking superstars with strong attacking power.

With such a configuration, if you still have to be pressed by a sworn enemy on your home field and play an ugly defensive counterattack, it is too much to say.

Even if you lose, you must lose with dignity.

The same is true for Borussia Dortmund. Dortmund, who has Cheng Hai, faces the sworn enemy Bayern Munich, and it is also impossible to play a defensive counterattack, only an indomitable attack.

Both sides were attacking tactics, both sides were in a 4132 formation, and the game went into a white heat from the start.

Although Bayern Munich is playing at home, it is logical to get into the game first, but this is the unpredictable nature of football matches, and it was Borussia Dortmund who scored the first goal.

In the 8th minute, Cheng Hai attracted the offset of Bayern's defense all day after connecting two people on the right side of the front, and then Cheng Hai transferred the ball to the left side with a long air pass.

Left wing-back Reus cut inside unguarded and scored into the box.

Borussia Dortmund opened the scoring and took a 1-0 lead at the Allianz Arena.

This balance is broken, and Bayern Munich is even less likely to back down. Because, this is a German Cup that will be won or lost, and once Bayern retreats, it can only be declared eliminated.

The next game became more intense, with constant clashes and back-to-back battles.

Even if they were concerned about Cheng Hai's free kick threat, Bayern could choose a place far away from the penalty area when choosing a foul location to stop Dortmund from attacking, but sometimes it was inevitable to foul in a dangerous area, giving Cheng Hai a good free kick opportunity.

However, in the 16th minute, Cheng Hai, a free kick on the left side of the front field about 28 meters away from the goal, failed to score and was saved by Neuer's quick response. But it didn't take long for Gustavo to push Cheng Hai down about 32 meters from the goal on the right side of the front field with a back-pushing foul after Cheng Hai broke through him.

Gustavo thought that the foul was far enough away from the goal that it should not be a big threat.

Unexpectedly, Cheng Hai just took a free kick with more power, faster speed, larger arc and more awkward angle than the previous 28-meter free kick, so that Neuer tried his best and failed to save the ball.

The ball flew over the wall, in a beautiful arc in the air, and flew into the top right corner of the goal against the underside of the crossbar.

Borussia Dortmund took a 2-0 lead away.

After a two-goal lead, the game was completely on the path of Dortmund.

Although Bayern Munich launched a frantic attack and adopted a tighter defense against Cheng Hai, they could not prevent their defeat.

In the 36th minute, Bayern Munich pulled a goal back with a trademark inward shot after Robben broke through the flank, making it 1-2.

However, before the end of the first half, in the 42nd minute, when Cheng Haila was involved in more than half of Bayern's defensive strength, Gundogan sent a wonderful pass to Lewandowski in the penalty area to assist, helping Lewandowski to score in the penalty area.

Dortmund still went into the break with a two-goal lead of 3-1.

After the start of the second half, Bayern Munich, despite the tide of attacks and attempts to counterattack, did not wait for their second goal, in the 57th minute, Cheng Hai raised his foot and an unexpected scorpion tail swing when he ran over his head in a counterattack, hooked the ball into the goal.

Borussia Dortmund took a 4-1 lead.

With a three-goal lead, there was basically no suspense in the game.

Although Bayern Munich scored another goal in the 76th minute through Gomez to pull a point back, Dortmund assisted Cheng Hai in the 82nd minute with Gundogan scoring a goal.

In the end, Dortmund took away a 5-2 victory at the Allianz Arena in this German Cup quarter-final matchup.

Cheng Hai scored a hat-trick in the game and also had an assist, becoming the biggest contributor to Dortmund's victory in the German national derby again.

Borussia Dortmund qualified for the semi-finals of the 2012/2013 German Cup and continued their progress towards the six-time title of the season.