Bellingham on the spot as Dortmund oust Hannover

Hannover 0-2 Borussia Dortmund
Goals: 0-1 Arrey-Mbi (o.g.) 11', 0-2 Bellingham (pen.) 71'
Red card: Adeyemi 85'

Hoping for a morale boost following their weekend reverse against Bundesliga table-toppers Union Berlin, Dortmund enjoyed the perfect start at the Heinz von Heiden-Arena. Julian Brandt and Thorgan Hazard were involved in the build-up while it was ultimately Youssoufa Moukoko who played the crucial pass that Bright Arrey-Mbi ended up knocking into his own net. The hosts - who saw off the challenge of fifth-tier TSV Schott Mainz to set up this second-round encounter - had their moments in front of a packed crowd as they sought to draw level. Havard Nielsen and Maximilian Beier tested goalkeeper Gregor Kobel with respective shots, but found the visiting custodian equal to both as he sought to atone for a costly error last Sunday. At the other end, Donyell Malen and Emre Can kept the pressure on the home side, even if both were ultimately guilty of wayward finishing.

Hannover last defeated BVB almost five years ago and the Bundesliga 2 side showed plenty of determination as they looked to rattle their opponents after the break. Hendrik Weydandt's shot from close range was deflected onto a post by Emre Can while soon afterwards Die Roten's No.9 was presented with one more big chance. With teammate Jannik Dehm heading across the goal, Weydandt seemed certain to score, until the striker took his eye off the ball and scuffed wide. The miss proved costly. When Phil Neumann brought down substitute Bellingham inside the area, the England international dusted himself off before slamming home his side's second from the penalty spot. Karim Adeyemi was then shown a straight red for shoving Derrick Köhn over when the latter was in full flight and goal-bound. Undeterred by the dismissal, the Black-and-Yellows completed their task, sealing a place in the tournament's third round.

• Bellingham is Dortmund's leading scorer in cup competitions this season with six goals, one in each match he has played in: two in the DFB Cup, four in the Champions League.
• This was the sixth cup meeting between these teams. Somewhat surprisingly, Hannover have by far the better record, having knocked BVB out four times (1973, 1991, 2004 and 2006) to Dortmund's two.
• Dortmund have won the competition five times, most recently in 2021.
• Terzic was interim coach when BVB last lifted the trophy.
• Gio Reyna made his 86th competitive appearance for Dortmund.
• Hannover have gone out of the cup in the first or second round 15 times out of 23 since the turn of the millennium.

Teams

Hannover: Weinkauf - Neumann, Börner, Arrey-Mbi - Dehm (Stolze 75'), Muroya, F. Kunze (Leopold 75'), Besuschkow, Nielsen (Kerk 82'), Beier - Weydandt (Köhn 75')
Unused subs: Zieler, Celebi, Foti, Schaub, Tresoldi
Out: Teuchert (muscular)
Coach: Stefan Leitl

Dortmund: Kobel - Meunier (Hummels 62'), Süle, Schlotterbeck, Guerreiro - Özcan, Can - T. Hazard (Reyna 68'), Brandt (Bellingham 62'), Malen (Adeyemi 68') - Moukoko (Passlack 90')
Unused subs: Meyer, Modeste, Rothe, Papadopoulos
Out: Bynoe-Gittens (shoulder), Dahoud (shoulder), Haller (testicular cancer), Morey (knee), Reus (unconfirmed), Wolf (ill)
Coach: Edin Terzic

As it happened ...