Borussia Dortmund went into the DFB-Pokal 2nd round fixture against the 2. Bundesliga side FC Union Berlin as one of the most in-form teams in the top 5 leagues, remaining undefeated after their first 9 league games (with 6 wins and 3 draws), scoring an impressive 29 goals whilst only conceding 10. Their form hasn’t been limited to the league either, with impressive wins over both Monaco (3-0) and Atletico Madrid (4-0). All the signs pointed to a tough game for Union Berlin.
Team News
Rotation is likely to be important for Lucien Favre’s Dortmund if they’re to maintain the early levels of performance they’ve started with, so it was of little surprise to some heavy rotation within the starting line-up.
Veteran goalkeeper Marwin Hitz got his first minutes in goal since his summer move from Augsburg, he commanded a defence made up of Abdou Diallo at left-back, with a partnership of Dan Axel Zagadou and Omer Toprak at centre-back with Real Madrid loanee Achraf Hakimi keeping his place at right-back after a number of impressive performances.
The Dortmund midfield saw 4 changes from the 2-2 draw against Hertha, with only Mahmoud Dahoud keeping his place. He was partnered in central midfield by Julian Weigl who has had a hard time breaking into the Dortmund team recently, with Christian Pulisic and Marius Wolf on the wings. Shinji Kagawa started in his favoured attacking midfield position, just behind Maximilian Philipp.
Union Berlin, however, stuck with a similar team to the one that drew 0-0 against Dynamo Dresden at the weekend, with just 4 changes Christopher Lenz coming in at left-back, Marcel Hartel on the right-wing, Robert Zulij in attacking midfield and Kenny Redondo at left-wing.
