U19s to face Bayern in quarter-final after 3-0 win in Bochum | OneFootball

The Dortmund youngsters, who had been set up outstandingly in tactical terms by Mike Tullberg, surprised the sold-out crowd of almost 1,000 people at the Youth Performance Centre at Hiltroper Straße with a brilliantly combative performance and high-speed counter-attacking play. Tim Degener opened the scoring at 1-0 early on, before substitutes Valon Cena and Oliwer Blaszczyk completed the triumph in the closing stages and inflicted a first home defeat of the season on VfL. "The way we held our own against our physically superior opponents was impressive,” said Mike Tullberg, adding: “Not everything was great on a footballing level, but we did a lot of things right.”

The personnel situation had improved only slightly. BVB were missing the young first-team trio of Almugera Kabar, Kjell Wätjen and Cole Campbell, who are still eligible to play for the U19s, as well as the injured Thierry Tazemeta, Taycan Etcibasi, Jonas Feddersen, Diego Ngambia and Luca Reggiani. Pharell Kegni, who is carrying a niggle, and U17 regulars Luke Fahrenhorst and Jan-Luca Riedl started the match on the bench.

The Black & Yellows made a lightning start. Tim Degener capped a fine individual move with a left-footed shot to open the scoring at 1-0 in the third minute, before Mathis Albert fired narrowly wide of the upright from a highly promising position not even 180 seconds later. Favourites Bochum might have subsequently seized the initiative, but the Black & Yellows consistently posed a threat with their no-frills and fast counter-attacking play, while also working in a focused and disciplined manner of the ball.

The result was an exciting, varied and intense youth match with chances coming on an almost minutely basis. BVB goalkeeper Robin Lisewski shone with spectacular saves to deny the likes of Ciwan Günes (17, 44,  50th minutes) and Ohonu Keumo (21). At the other end, Luc Dabrowski intervened on the goal-line to keep out a solo effort from Mathis Albert after his goalkeeper Benjamin Speight had already been beaten (20). After Degener had outwitted the VfL defence with a clever pass, Ousmane Diallo then missed the opportunity put his side 2-0 up (38). But an even more frustrating moment for BVB came when the exceptionally talented 15-year-old Albert missed the target from seven metres out after being set up by Samuele Inacio (62).

Substitutes wrap up victory

Valon Cena, who came on as a substitute for William Rashidi just shy of the hour mark, went one better. The right winger intercepted the ball following an opposition mistake during build-up play, sped towards the VfL goal with determination and threaded through Speight's legs to make it 2-0 (71). The next substitutes made an immediate impact as well. Oliwer Blaszczyk, who had just replaced the exhausted Mathis Albert, prodded the ball home on the follow-up to make it 3-0 after Pharell Kegni's shot had not been dealt with properly by Speight (81st minute) – the upset was complete, VfL Bochum were eliminated and Borussia were through to the quarter-finals.

"We made a statement with the youngest U19 team in Germany. It is a weight off my shoulders, the boys deserve a lot of praise," said Mike Tullberg, who is already planning the next coup in Munich.