Leverkusen beats SCP
Favorite fright 1. FC Saarbrücken has landed the next cup coup and, after record champions Bayern Munich, also knocked last year’s finalists Eintracht Frankfurt out of the competition. The third division team won the round of 16 duel against the Conference League participants 2-0 (0-0) on Wednesday and is in the quarter-finals for the ninth time in the club’s history.
In front of 15,903 spectators in the sold-out Ludwigsparkstadion, Kai Brünker in the 64th minute and Luca Kerber (78th) scored the goals for the outsider, who will receive a bonus of around 1.7 million euros for progressing. The Saarlanders have already raised more than three million euros in the current competition. In addition to the game, the disappointing Eintracht also lost Noel Futkeu, who was shown a red card after an assault (83′).
As expected, the guests had more possession of the ball at the beginning, but couldn’t do much with it. The Hessians, who had changed four positions compared to the recent 1:2 in Augsburg, acted far too imprecisely in attack and did not pose any threat. After a quarter of an hour, the outsiders gave up their reluctance and initiated their first offensive actions, in which the Eintracht defense revealed some weaknesses. After a short defense by national goalkeeper Kevin Trapp, Kerber had the lead, but poked the ball out of the crowd but just wide of the post.
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Shortly afterwards, the committed home team celebrated when Brünker scored with his head. According to the TV images, referee Daniel Siebert canceled the goal because of a previous foul on Frankfurt’s defense chief Robin Koch. Saarbrücken were unimpressed by the dampening of the mood and were now the better team. There was no discernible difference between two classes. On the contrary: the Saarlanders played courageously forward and put the favorites under pressure.
The disappointing guests fired their first shot on goal after 37 minutes. However, Niels Nkounkou’s attempt did not pose any problems for FCS goalkeeper Tim Schreiber. The half-time draw was even a little lucky for the Bundesliga club, as Brünker missed another good opportunity for the third division team.
After the change, Frankfurt seemed to get the game under better control. Substitute Aurelio Buta had the best chance of the game so far, but his shot from close range hit the crossbar. A little later, Saarbrücken struck ice cold. Goalkeeper Schreiber sent the ball with a long shot into the Frankfurt penalty area, where Brünker finished falling after a header from his strike partner Amine Naifi. Trapp was powerless against the placed low shot. When Kerber scored to make it 2-0, the next cup sensation was perfect.
Update 9:59 p.m.: “It’s just great to play games like this here at home,” said FCS midfielder Marcel Gaus on “Sky”. Captain Manuel Zeitz said: “It’s unbelievable what we’ve done again in the cup.” Zeitz said we also “deservedly won” because we really didn’t allow much as the underdog. Coach Rüdiger Ziehl was of the same opinion: “The team believed in itself, defended brutally well and always had moments where we played forward.” The 46-year-old added with a view to the FCS victories so far in this cup round: “Karlsruhe, Bavaria and Frankfurt, I have to say: That’s outstanding.”
“Sensational again today, especially the way the team played,” said sports director Jürgen Luginger: “We can easily win the cup, I have to say.” He gave the professionals a long leash at the celebration: “We want to enjoy the evening today, it “It’s sensational, the journey continues,” said the 55-year-old and announced: “Now there’s a lot of celebration going on, I think, you can celebrate well in Saarland.”
Bayer Leverkusen defeats SC Paderborn in the DFB Cup – worry about Wirtz
Clouded by injury concerns about Florian Wirtz, the record hunters from Bayer Leverkusen have reached the quarter-finals of the DFB Cup and are favorites for the rest of the competition. The Bundesliga table leaders only managed to get rid of their compulsory task in the round of 16 against the brave second division tenth-placed SC Paderborn with difficulty in a 3-1 (2-0) win on Wednesday evening. After the elimination of record winners FC Bayern Munich and defending champions RB Leipzig, Bayer are now given the best chance of winning the title. After 21 competitive games this season, the Werkself are still unbeaten with 19 wins.
A big downer for Leverkusen was the injury-related loss of national player Wirtz, who had to leave the field after being kicked on the heel (44th minute). Wirtz was then able to perform, but was escorted into the dressing room with a contorted face in pain and supported by two supervisors. Bayer initially wrote that the 20-year-old had received a “painful blow to his ankle.”
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The goals for Bayer were scored by Victor Boniface (12th) with his 14th competitive goal since his move in the summer, the Argentine world champion Exequiel Palacios (29th) and Patrik Schick twelve minutes after coming on as a substitute (87th). Paderborn, which won 3-1 at SC Freiburg in the previous round and whose coach Lukas Kwasniok led 1. FC Saarbrücken into the semi-finals as the first fourth division team in 2020, shortened the score thanks to Sebastian Klaas (83′). But it wasn’t enough for the third quarter-final in the club’s history after 2018 and 2019.
As in the Europa League, Leverkusen’s coach Kwasniok sent a signal at the weekend by swapping seven players and also announced that regular goalkeeper Jannik Huth would be replaced by Pelle Boevink until the winter break. Huth was not in the squad on Wednesday. “He is not sick or injured, but unable to do so for personal reasons,” said the SCP: “He will be back in the squad as soon as possible!”
Given their nature, the Paderborn team started quite courageously, at least much more courageously than runner-up Borussia Dortmund in the 1-1 draw on Sunday in the BayArena. However, it was impossible to prevent Leverkusen from clearly dominating the game. And neither was the early 1-0. After a cross from Bayern loanee Josip Stanisic, Boniface converted with a direct pass that was worth seeing. When Palacios scored from 18 meters after just under half an hour, the game was basically already decided.
After the break, Leverkusen had even more chances even without Wirtz. Boevink held well against Alejandro Grimaldo (50th) and Boniface (51st), Jonas Hofmann was offside when he scored (53rd). In the end, Paderborn pressed again and continued to believe in their chance. The goal briefly brought tension, which Schick quickly destroyed.
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