Chapter 230: Champions League quarterfinals
After playing the German Cup with Bayern Munich and advancing to the semifinals, on March 2, in the 24th round of the Bundesliga, Dortmund hosted Hannover 96.
With Dortmund's current strength and form, there is no suspense in this game.
Borussia Dortmund comfortably defeated Hannover 96 with a score of 5-1 at home, and Cheng Hai once again staged a senior to shine all over the field.
On March 5, Dortmund hosted Shakhtar Donetsk in the second leg of the Champions League 1/8 finals.
In the first leg, Dortmund won 4-2 away, not only leading by 2 goals on aggregate, but also scoring a full 4 away goals, basically announcing that the second leg was out of suspense.
Of course, Shakhtar Donetsk will certainly not give up easily, even if they know that the chances of a comeback at Westfalen Stadium are zero, they still have to try.
Once the game began, Shakhtar, who were trailing on aggregate, took the initiative to attack and try to pull off a miracle comeback at Westfalen Stadium.
In the first leg, Shakhtar Donetsk still scored two goals at home to Borussia Dortmund.
Therefore, the Shakhtars, who are attacking with all their might, still look a little threatened.
Shakhtar Donetsk came close to scoring in the seventh minute, when striker Luiz Adriano came into the box and received a pass from a team-mate and almost found the goal past Borussia Dortmund with a volley.
Thankfully, Weidenfeller reacted quickly and saved the ball off the line.
The next corner Shakhtar couldn't grab and was cleared by Subotic out of the box.
Shakhtar Donetsk's attack is not a small threat, but the problem is that their finishing touch is a bit below standard and they can't turn it into a goal.
Dortmund, on the other hand, scored in the 11th minute. And this is only the second shot of the whole team of Dortmund and the first shot of Cheng Hai personally.
Cheng Hai received a pass from Gundogan from outside the box and opened the scoring for Dortmund with a long-range shot from about 24 yards out, taking a 1-0 lead and making it 5-2 on aggregate.
After Borussia Dortmund opened the scoring line, Shakhtar Donetsk's players were even more anxious and pressed forward, hoping to score with a ferocious attack.
But it backfired, and the more they attacked, the more holes there were in the backcourt.
In the 25th minute, Shakhtar were slow to get their first goal and conceded it again.
And it was Cheng Hai who scored the goal.
Sebastian Kyle forced the Shakhtar goalkeeper to make a fine save with a long-range shot from behind, but gave Dortmund a corner.
It was in this corner kick attack that Cheng Hai jumped high on the line of the small penalty area, took the lead, and attacked the goal with a powerful header to break through the goal of the Shakhtars again.
Cheng Hai scored twice to help Dortmund take a 2-0 lead in the game and 6-2 over two legs.
With a four-goal lead on aggregate, this Champions League quarter-final matchup has lost its suspense.
In fact, this is also true.
In the following games, although Shakhtar Donetsk has not given up, they have been insisting on attacking, trying to score goals and keep the hope of qualifying.
But Borussia Dortmund were so good at the Westfalen Stadium that Shakhtar Donetsk failed to score a single goal until the end of the game.
However, Cheng Hai scored two more goals in the remaining time, and finally helped Dortmund win 5-0 and 9-2 over two legs, and advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2012/2013 Champions League.