Ibisevic replaced the suspended Cacau but otherwise, trainer Bruno Labbadia saw no reason to make any other changes to his starting eleven. The first half began with some electrifying football from the current German title holders, which continued until the break. By the break there was a ratio of 14:2 shots on goal, a strike against the crossbar from Kevin Großkreutz and the 1-0 by Kagawa.

In the ninth minute, Labbadia’s men managed to break free from the constraints of BVB for the first time. Martin Harnik picked out Gotoku Sakai’s burst into the box and the Japanese international looked to find Hajnal but goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller was quick to cut out the danger. Dortmund went on to dominate the half but another fantastic performance by Sven Ulreich saw the hosts frustrated for a long time. In the 33rd minute though, BVB finally broke the VfB resolve. Marcel Schmelzer was allowed too much space to put in a cross and Sebastian Kehl flicked on the ball to Kagawa, who converted from four meters out to make it 1-0 for Dortmund at the break.

A wake up call for the VfB players

There was no let-up in the tempo after the re-start either! Lukasz Piszczek struck the post with a shot from a tight angle in the 48th minute, but a minute later, Kuba went one better, benefitting from Mats Hummels work to make it 2-0. Then VfB found a way back. Substitute Christian Gentner poked the ball through to Niedermeier, who in turn passed to Ibisevic, who left the BVB keeper no chance. The goal proved to inspire VfB and Sakai hit a long ball to Julian Schieber, who rounded Piszczek, Hummels and then Weidenfeller before slotting home to make it 2-2 (77’). Two minutes later, Schieber was on target again to put VfB into a 3-2 lead.