The Borussia Dortmund U17s have reached the final of the German B Junior Championship. Marco Lehmann's team crowned an outstanding season with a 3-2 triumph in a turbulent second leg away to Rasenballsport Leipzig in the semi-final.

Ousmane Diallo, Diego Ngambia and Fritz Fleck scored the goals to give a highly clinical BVB the victory, which came under threat in stoppage time when Lennox Eilke and Amos Gerth scored for a home team that never threw in the towel. "I'm extremely proud of the lads, Leipzig were an absolutely top opponent that had last lost a game in September. We invested everything and deserved to win in the end," summarised coach Marco Lehmann.

BVB will have home advantage in the final on Sunday 12 May (kick-off 11:00 CEST). As Stadion Rote Erde is not available due to the upcoming European Championships and is being used by UEFA, the match will take place at Stadion Niederrhein in Oberhausen. The opponent in the final will be decided between Eintracht Frankfurt and Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday. The first leg ended 2-2.

BVB and Leipzig had played out a 0-0 stalemate in the first leg. The Black & Yellows got off to a dream start in the return fixture and scored the first goal of this semi-final round in the second minute: Ousmane Diallo thundered a corner taken by Fritz Fleck into the back of the net. The goalscorer had initiated the situation himself directly after kick-off by embarking upon a first dribbling run and unleashing a strong shot. It marked the start of an intense and enticing football match brimming with highlights.

Be more courageous in possession but also more patient than in the first leg was the approach outlined by Marco Lehmann, who had shown his boys new solutions to deal with Leipzig's high and aggressive press. These instructions were implemented perfectly in many phases of the game. "We had a good structure and always had phases of calm, which we didn't manage in the 0-0 in the first leg," analysed Lehmann. With the hosts also producing a top performance, it developed into a thrilling match at the highest level and an advertisement for junior football.

Ousmane Diallo almost unstoppable

After falling behind early on, Leipzig dusted themselves down and initially created good opportunities for themselves down the left side in particular through the energetic Lionel Voufack. Dortmund shot-stopper Leon Herdes thwarted the best opportunity up to that point in the 19th minute following a Voufack cross that took a slight deflection off Mannox Stadel. But unlike the first leg, the tactically outstanding Black & Yellows reacted in a much more active manner to Leipzig's "pressing machine" and had an answer for all of the opposition's attacks.

And they created some great opportunities. Ousmane Diallo in particular put the Leipzig defence under pressure with his pace, while the team showed great sacrifice in defence and consistently made an impact by switching the play quickly. Tim Degener forced goalkeeper Fernando Dickes into a spectacular save (29), while Thierry Fidjeu-Tazemeta and Fritz Fleck were a little too careless with two quick free-kicks from the ideal distance of 16 metres out.

The Borussia players emerged from the dressing room in a similarly alert manner to the start of the match. Leipzig were once again only able to stop the pacey Diallo with a foul. This time Diego Ngambia took over free-kick duty and the Dortmund forward curled the ball into the top corner of the net spectacularly (47). 

Excellent Leon Herdes leaves Leipzig in despair

"If we manage to score two goals, we'll get to the final," Marco Lehmann had said beforehand – but he had probably not expected that Leon Herdes would be required to be in absolute top form to do so. The goalkeeper was frequently in the thick of the action in the second period. Whether it was Joyeux Masanka Bungi, Mannox Stadel or Jonathan Norbye – they were all kept out by Herdes, who was only beaten for the first time in stoppage time. 

But by that point, it was already 3-0 to the visitors. Because in Leipzig's biggest spell of pressure, they were hit mercilessly on the counter by BVB. Ousmane Diallo again got the better of several defenders before Fritz Fleck received the ball, the midfielder netting coolly for 3-0 (60). However, the semi-final was a long way from over. For the hosts did not let up, kept on fighting in undeterred fashion and gave the Borussia players a scare by scoring two goals in stoppage time. 

"Our rearguard of Jonas Feddersen, Luca Reggiani and Elias Benkara cleared everything away and played very maturely. In addition, we used our moments of switch-play. At the end, when Leipzig threw everything forward once again, things got slightly wild. Now we're very, very happy," beamed Marco Lehmann following the biggest success of his coaching career.

U17s: Herdes – Benkara, Reggiani, Feddersen – Cena, Fleck (Hoy, 73), Kaba, Degener, Diallo (Wörsdörfer, 73) – Tazemeta (Etcibasi, 87), Ngambia (Burstedde, 64)
(wiwi)