Nico Schlotterbeck said only a "stroke of genius" from Marcel Sabitzer was the difference in Borussia Dortmund's narrow victory against Werder Bremen in the DFB-Pokal.
Sabitzer's 'stroke of genius' earned Dortmund's DFB-Pokal win, says Schlotterbeck
Borussia Dortmund let a two-goal lead slip against Werder Bremen, but Marcel Sabitzer stepped up late on with a sensational free-kick.
Dortmund booked their place in the third round of the competition with a 3-2 win at Signal Iduna Park on Tuesday, despite surrendering a two-goal lead in the second half.
Serhou Guirassy and Carney Chukwuemeka had put Niko Kovac's side in control after 17 minutes, with Maximilian Beier also seeing a goal ruled out for Dortmund.
But Werder substitute Niclas Fullkrug flipped the script in three second-half minutes, first scoring a 65th-minute penalty before levelling things up with a stunning run and finish.
However, in the third minute of stoppage time, Sabitzer curled a wonderful free-kick beyond Karl Hein and into the top-left corner to book Dortmund's place in the next round.
It was Sabitzer's first direct free-kick goal at club level since September 2019 during his time with RB Leipzig, which was also against Werder, though Schlotterbeck said his team should have been out of sight before being pegged back.
"We had everything under control in the first half, and then Carney and Serhou had a huge chance to make it three-zero," Schlotterbeck said.
"After the penalty kick, we were on the ropes, played very sloppy football, hit a lot of long balls over the top, and lost a lot of second balls.
"Werder Bremen deserved to make it two-one and two-two. In the end, it was a fifty-fifty game that was decided by a stroke of genius.
"For some reason, [Marcel Sabitzer] seems to be in charge of the really big goals. Take the game against Atletico, for example, and now this one against Bremen.
"We advanced, so we'll play in the third round in early December. I'm really excited about that."
Dortmund had registered an expected goals (xG) total of 0.9 from their six shots in the first half, compared to Werder's tally of 0.29 from their five attempts at Gregor Kobel.
But after the break, Werder won the xG battle comfortably (1.24 to 0.46), while also firing off more shots (seven to six), shots on target (four to one).
"To be honest, after being up 2-0 at the half, I didn't like how things went off the rails. We should have sealed the game in the first half," Dortmund boss Kovac conceded.
"And after [Carney Chukwuemeka's] chance in the second half, we just needed to see it through. We failed to do so, and then it turned into a wild match.
"That's not how I picture things going. We were way too open. Bremen managed to break through the middle four or five times.
"Tactically, we didn't do a good job. With that said, all’s well that ends well."
