Borussia Dortmund 3-2 Werder Bremen: Talking points as Sabitzer magic eclipses another defensive collapse

Borussia Dortmund marched into the Round of 16 of the 2026-27 DFB-Pokal campaign after beating Werder Bremen 3-2 at the Signal Iduna Park on Tuesday.

Marcel Sabitzer struck the winner in the dying seconds from a free-kick after the River Islanders pulled off another shock comeback from 2-0 down to draw level.

Here are the major talking points from the match:

1) A game of two halves

Borussia Dortmund came flying out of the blocks and raced to a 2-0 lead inside the opening 20 minutes of the match as Werder Bremen were seemingly in for a long night. The BVB continued to mount pressure on their visitors and created a few more chances as Niko Kovac's side appeared devastating every time they drove forward.

However, much of that attacking momentum fizzled out after the break. They had two chances in the first 15 minutes, Felix Nmecha scuffing his shot narrowly wide from outside the box before Carney Chukwuemeka missed a glorious chance for 3-0 after Serhou Guirassy set him up in the 56th minute. Thereafter, the Black and Yellow seemed devoid of ideas and kept losing the ball.

2) Dortmund suffer another defensive collapse to Bremen

On 9 October, Dortmund had relinquished a two-goal advantage in the final seven minutes of their Bundesliga match against Werder Bremen to draw 2-2. On Tuesday, history repeated itself as the BVB went 2-0 up once more only to see that lead wiped out in the second-half.

While it's true that Niclas Fullkrug, scorer of both of Bremen's strikes on the night, is currently in the form of his life, Dortmund cannot keep losing their in-game advantage like this. It's become a worrying pattern however, and even though the BVB found a late goal here, it doesn't hide the side's incompetence at protecting their lead.

3) Marcel Sabitzer silences his critics

For weeks now, Marcel Sabitzer has been at the receiving end of aspersions from the Dortmund fans. Until this week, he had contributed just one assist and scored zero goals in the new campaign, drawing the ire of the supporters who wanted to him to remain benched.

But on Tuesday, Sabitzer pulled a rabbit out of his hat, stepping over a free-kick in the 93rd minute with the scoreline locked at 2-2 and sent a fabulous, curled shot into the near post to win it for Dortmund at the death. Just like that, he's silenced all his critics.

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