Round of the last eight rises
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Will third division team Saarbrücken make it to the final in Berlin? Will a second division team play in the European Cup next year? Or will Leverkusen or Mönchengladbach win their first title in almost 30 years? The early exit of record winners FC Bayern, defending champions RB Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund and Eintracht Frankfurt, both of whom have recently been in the final, has made the DFB Cup the cup of underdogs – and is allowing dreams to blossom for the eight remaining clubs.
Third and fourth division teams in the semi-finals: surprises of the DFB Cup
“I don’t want to offend any team, but there are already big names out there. “It has rarely been so easy to get to the final,” said Kaiserslautern midfielder Marlon Ritter (29). It’s about history for smaller clubs or at least clubs that haven’t been spoiled by titles recently. The economic aspect, although the semi-final alone would bring in around 3.5 million euros, is a “nice side effect,” according to Fortuna Düsseldorf’s sports director Christian Weber. None of the quarter-finalists have lifted the trophy this millennium, and only two of them have even appeared in a final during this period. For only the second time since the Bundesliga was founded 60 years ago, only three first division teams are in the quarter-finals. And there is only one possible constellation of a pure Bundesliga final.
The round begins almost symbolically this week with two pure second division duels. On Tuesday (8:45 p.m.) front runners FC St. Pauli welcome Düsseldorf, on Wednesday (8:45 p.m.) Hertha BSC fights against 1. FC Kaiserslautern for the long-held dream of the first final in their home Olympic Stadium. This would also happen in honor of the recently deceased President Kay Bernstein.
“Everyone knows that the club has a dream, that the fans have a dream, that Kay had a dream,” said captain Toni Leistner (33). “We have to do everything we can to achieve this.” Since 1985, the final has always been played in the capital and became the German Wembley, and Hertha has been chasing this dream ever since. During this period it ended once in the semi-finals and three times in the quarter-finals. But in contrast to this time, the opponents were always first division teams.
1. FC Saarbrücken’s Brünker: “It would be crazy if we really went to Berlin”
The biggest outsider in the competition even rewrites his own fairy tale. Four years ago, 1. FC Saarbrücken was the first fourth division team to reach the semi-finals. Now, as a third division team, the Bundesliga founding member is only one step away from the semi-finals – and two from Berlin. It was “mentally ill,” said goal scorer Kai Brünker (29). “It would be crazy if we actually went to Berlin.” You have to stay on the ground, “but we beat Bayern, we beat Frankfurt. Of course we want to win the next game too.”
The opponent there is Borussia Mönchengladbach. The five-time champions from the 1970s have not won a trophy since winning the cup in 1995 – nor reached a final. Since then, Borussia have failed six times in a quarter or semi-final, twice despite playing at home and four times against lower-class clubs. But the motto in Gladbach is: dream instead of trauma! “The path is getting shorter and shorter, the probability is getting higher,” said sports director Roland Virkus. And midfielder Julian Weigl (28) explained: “The cup is incredibly exciting because so many big teams are already out.”
Müller in 8th place: The record players in the DFB Cup
Two clubs appear even stronger than Borussia, but significantly, Bundesliga leaders Bayer Leverkusen and third-placed VfB Stuttgart face each other directly. Bayer has been waiting for a title since winning the Cup in 1993 and has lost three finals since then. Stuttgart have lost in the final twice since their last success in 1997. Bayer, who also have home advantage in this duel, are of course the clear favorites for the title. “But there are also St. Pauli, Fortuna Düsseldorf and Hertha,” said coach Xabi Alonso and, given the way the competition has gone so far, he didn’t mean it ironically: “There are always surprises in the cup. They play good football. And the cup is a different competition.” What has rarely been as clear as this year.
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