Erling Haaland could not stop Borussia Dortmund from crashing out of the German Cup (DFB-Pokal) despite playing against a second-tier club, St Pauli.
Borussia Dortmund which are currently seating on the second spot on the German Bundesliga table are expected to have it very easy over St Pauli away from home.
Recall that Erling Haaland led Dortmund to beat Bayern Munich to the trophy last season. Unfortunately for Haaland and his teammates, St Pauli prevented them from successfully defending the title on Tuesday, January 18, 2022.
During the German Cup game, St Pauli’s Etienne Amenyido opened the scoring in the 4th minute. In the 40th minute, Borussia Dortmund’s Axel Witsel helped the hosts to extend their lead by scoring an owned goal.
In the second half, Dortmund tried to fight back. The visitors recorded 14 shots, six of which were on target. Dortmund had 69 percent of the ball possession and 757 passes but all they could achieve with that was a goal via a spot-kick which Erling Haaland converted.
The German Cup round of 16 ties ended 2-1 in favor of St Pauli leaving Borussia Dortmund to focus on the German Bundesliga and the Europa League.
After the game, the coach of Borussia Dortmund blamed himself and his team for causing themselves a lot of problems in the first 15 minutes of the game.
The coach said: “We caused ourselves several problems in the opening 15 minutes and also conceded a goal straight away. That’s when it gets difficult.
“The way we went about trying to score the equalizer in the first half was a little rash. After going 2-0 down, we adjusted a few things. But the key issue is how we, as the holders, started this cup battle. We didn’t get that right.”
Just like Erling Haaland, his major rival in Germany, Robert Lewandowski could not help Bayern Munich to remain in the German Cup this season. The reigning German champions were knocked out of the competition by Borussia Monchengladbach in the second round of the competition.
A MASSIVE upset is on the cards in the DFB Pokal! 😱😱
— Premier Sports (@PremierSportsTV) January 18, 2022
Axel Witsel turns the ball into his own net and St. Pauli lead 2-0 against cup holders Borussia Dortmund ☠️ pic.twitter.com/Pcz34QITLI
As it stands, this is the first time since 2011 that both Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich were knocked out of the competition before the German Cup’s final.
Borussia Dortmund CEO Hans Joachima-Watzke rubbished claims that Erling Haaland is under pressure to decide his future
Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer of Borussia Dortmund, Hans Joachima-Watzke has insisted that Erling Haaland is not under pressure to decide his future.
Haaland has a release clause in his current contract with Dortmund which permits him to join another club next summer for £63milllion. Hence, many top European clubs have lined up to pay for the release clause but Dortmund wish to keep him until at least the end of his contract in 2024.
Now, Haaland is expected to decide to remain at Dortmund or move to any of the top clubs in Europe that can pay for his release clause next summer.
“Saying that Dortmund would give Erling an ultimatum is bulls**t. There’s no deadline,” Hans Joachima-Watzke told ARD.
The reigning DFB Pokal champions crash OUT! 😱😱
— Premier Sports (@PremierSportsTV) January 18, 2022
St. Pauli pull off a famous 2-1 victory against Borussia Dortmund ☠️👏 pic.twitter.com/3nEEMb7oDD
