Pokal in comfortable style as they beat St. Pauli 3-0 on Tuesday.
Saturday's 1-0 home defeat to Hannover in the Bundesliga was
Dortmund's fourth consecutive league defeat and their sixth in
nine matches this term - leading coach Jurgen Klopp to
acknowledge the club were in a "critical situation".
However, goals from Ciro Immobile, Marco Reus and Shinji
Kagawa helped Dortmund get back on track at the Millerntor-
Stadion against second-tier St Pauli.
Immobile's close-range finish in the 33rd minute earned
Dortmund the lead their possession warranted, after the Italian
had seen an earlier effort ruled out for offside.
The former Torino man turned provider for Reus shortly before
the interval, putting the visitors firmly in control.
Klopp's men never looked likely to relinquish their advantage
and Kagawa added a third goal with four minutes remaining to
put the result beyond any doubt.
Dortmund threatened down the flanks early on courtesy of
Kagawa and Erik Durm, with the two combining after eight
minutes for the Japan international to fire wide.
The visitors continued to dominate and looked to have opened
the scoring when Immobile turned home Sokratis
Papastathopoulos' cross from the right - only to be ruled
offside.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan's strike was tipped wide by Philipp
Tschauner 20 minutes in before Immobile eventually got his
goal.
After some slick interplay down the left, Kevin Grosskreutz's
cross found Kagawa, who turned the ball into Immobile's path
to deservedly put Dortmund ahead.
The hosts enjoyed a brief foray into Dortmund's half when John
Verhoek brought a long ball down inside the opposing area -
only to be crowded out - before Soren Gonther's header was
well saved by Mitch Langerak.
However, Dortmund pulled further clear shortly before the
interval when Immobile cut a cross back for Reus to side-foot
home.
Daube had an effort saved well by Langerak early in the second
half as St Pauli looked to gain a foothold in the tie.
Thomas Meggle's men offered a great deal more than they had
prior to the break but were unable to break down Dortmund's
defence, who coped well with any threat from the home side.
Klopp was able to bring Reus and Mkhitaryan off with plenty of
time to spare before Kagawa added a third, following a dismal
clearance from Tschauner.
The Dortmund boss now turns his attention to Saturday's clash
with champions and Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich at the
Allianz Arena.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.
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