Hertha Berlin vs. Borussia Dortmund: Winners and Losers from DFB-Pokal

Borussia Dortmund advanced to the final of the 2015/16 DFB-Pokal on Wednesday evening, beating Hertha BSC, 3-0, in the Olympiastadion. The Black and Yellows will face Bayern Munich on that very ground on May 21.

Dortmund took control right from kick-off, playing with a three-man defence, which meant they had numbers on the hosts in midfield. According to German broadcaster Sky, the Black and Yellows had up to 75 per cent possession in the first half.

They struggled to convert that into many scoring chances, however. Gonzalo Castro put them into the lead with a thunderous effort in the 21st minute, and Marco Reus could've doubled the cushion shortly thereafter. But those were the only two big opportunities in the first period.

Hertha's first shot on target came seconds before the half-time whistle and didn't trouble Roman Burki in Dortmund's goal at all.

The team from Germany's capital were a bit more energetic in the second half, with Salomon Kalou wasting a couple of chances to equalise the game. Dortmund wasted a few of their own, although goalkeeper Rune Jarstein deserves a lot of credit for a number of outstanding saves.

Reus punished Kalou's profligacy in the 75th minute, before he assisted Henrikh Mkhitaryan for the final goal of the game eight minutes later.

With the win, Dortmund booked the trip to their third straight final in the DFB-Pokal and their fourth in five years, while Hertha fans must wait at least one more year for their big dream, an appearance in the cup final in their own stadium, to come true.

Here, Bleacher Report picks the winners and losers from the game.

Winner: Marco Reus

ODD ANDERSEN/Getty Images

There's a perception that Reus fails to deliver in big games. For large parts of Wednesday's game against Hertha, it looked like one of those occasions.

The Germany international ran offside a number of times, struggled to connect with his team-mates—most notably during a counter-attack in the second half, when he blindly played a ball into the feet of a defender who had to deal with both him and Shinji Kagawa—and generally didn't look like the player fans know and love.

Toward the end of the game, however, Reus became stronger and stronger. For his goal in the 75th minute, following an excellent cutback pass from Kagawa, the 26-year-old displayed strong instincts in the box, as he cut off his run to find that little bit of space with two defenders in close proximity.

His assist for Mkhitaryan was just as impressive, as he made a defender look like a fool with a simple dummy before squaring for his Armenian team-mate, leaving him with a tap-in for the final score.

Even though it took him a while to get going against Hertha, it was the second strong performance in a big knockout match in a row for Reus, whose strong showing against Liverpool went largely unnoticed due to the circumstances of the Reds' win.

Asked about that fateful night at Anfield Road, Reus said after the win, per Deutsche Welle on Twitter, that the Black and Yellows "dealt with the Liverpool game uncompromisingly, and today, we gave the answer."

Loser: John Brooks

Boris Streubel/Getty Images

United States international John Brooks didn't have a terrible game, but one slip-up—quite literally—undid his otherwise solid work.

The 23-year-old gifted Dortmund the second goal, when he slipped in a duel with Adrian Ramos, which allowed Kagawa to break through on the right wing and find Reus. Vavel's Daniel Pindar tweeted: "Feel for John Brooks. He's been brilliant this season—but one fatal slip and Dortmund are 2-0 up."

It's telling that Brooks, who had been Hertha's best player in the goalless draw between the two sides in February, would have such a blunder on a day when not one of the hosts' outfielders looked their best.

Winner: Henrikh Mkhitaryan

ODD ANDERSEN/Getty Images

Mkhitaryan is a man of many talents, and we can add one more to the list after Wednesday.

Starting at right-wing-back in Dortmund's 3-6-1 system for the first time all season, the Armenian was terrific all game long.

He tied up Hertha's impressive left-back Marvin Plattenhardt in defence for the entire 90 minutes and was even more involved in his side's play than usual. It felt like every attacking move developed on his side of the field. 

Per WhoScored.com, he had the third-most touches of all players on the pitch with 110, while taking a whopping six shots, three of which found the target. 

It was inevitable that he'd get on the scoresheet, although he left it late: Mkhitaryan has scored in every cup game this season.

Loser: Pal Dardai

AXEL SCHMIDT/Getty Images

Hertha head coach Pal Dardai told German broadcaster Sky before the match that his team felt the support of the entire city of Berlin and wanted to repay their loyal fans in what was easily the biggest game in years for the hosts.

Once referee Deniz Aytekin blew his whistle for the first time, however, all those good intentions seemed to disappear. In one word, Hertha were flat.

As Deutsche Welle's Matt Herrmann tweeted at half-time, "whatever Dardai's plan A was, it didn't work."

Hertha frustrated Dortmund with aggressive pressing in February's goalless draw, and the expectation was that Dardai would employ the same strategy again, especially following the Black and Yellows' collapse against Liverpool. 

On Wednesday, however, Hertha were tentative, dropping deep and waiting for Dortmund to finally find an opening in their defence. 

It must feel like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity wasted for Hertha fans, who saw a better side thoroughly outplay their team. 

Winner: Thomas Tuchel

ODD ANDERSEN/Getty Images

Unlike his counterpart on the Hertha bench, Dortmund head coach Thomas Tuchel got his tactics spot on. The three-man defence meant the Black and Yellows always had a number of open receiving options in buildup play, while moving Mkhitaryan to wing-back looked odd at first blush but worked well.

Dortmund have reacted impressively to the heart-breaking loss at Anfield Road, winning their next two games 3-0 each. Tuchel praised his team's character and patience after the game, per the club's official website (link in German). 

The 42-year-old told Sky before the match that even a cup win won't rectify the way they crashed out of the UEFA Europa League, but making the DFB-Pokal final at least means Dortmund's hugely impressive season isn't over four weeks early.

Lars Pollmann is a Featured Columnist writing on Borussia Dortmund. He also writes for YellowWallPod.com. You can follow him on Twitter.