Borussia Dortmund will meet Fortuna Düsseldorf in Berlin tomorrow for the final of the 2013-14 DFB-Pokal, the German national cup competition. Dortmund won the league title a fortnight ago with a win at rivals Bayern Munich, and are favourites to win their second-ever double.
BVB have won the competition three times from five finals, with the most recent coming in 2012. Düsseldorf have made the final seven times ahead of tomorrow, with back-to-back victories in 1979 and 1980. This season the clubs met twice in Bundesliga, with BVB winning both.
In September, a sell-out crowd at Signal Iduna Park saw Dortmund run out comfortable 5-0 winners with braces from Marc Hornschuh and Julian Schieber sandwiching a Kevin Großkreutz goal. In February, Dortmund came away from Esprit Arena with a 3-1 win after going a goal down inside the opening quarter of an hour.
Düsseldorf’s route to the final has been a relatively simple one, with victories over Aalen, Bochum, Hoffenheim, Augsburg and Dinamo Dresden. The club lost their final four Bundesliga matches, only scoring twice, and finished twelth.
Dortmund also saw off lower-league opposition in the earlier rounds, beating Markranstädt, Heidenheim, Aue and Kaiserslautern, before a victory over Bayern Munich six weeks ago to book their place in the final.
Mats Hummels, Viktor Fischer and Marco Reus are all confirmed as being unavailable for Dortmund due to minor injuries, while Düsseldorf can boast a full-strength side.
Surman: “As always, we will analyse the players’ fitness and their performances in training before making any decisions regarding team selection. I’m confident that the squad can handle the rigours of the modern game.
“We will go out there with a positive game plan and show why we deserve to win this competition. Everyone wants to bounce back with a win after Wednesday night.”
Real-Time Football Manager 
You must be logged in to post a comment.