The cup game fell through – also because of the high risk of injury. It is not the first time this season that a game in Saarbrücken has been canceled.
According to referee Florian Badstübner, a cancellation of the cup quarter-final between 1. FC Saarbrücken and Borussia Mönchengladbach on Wednesday was unavoidable because of the risk of injury to the players. “When you see the pitch, you can’t play on it. The risk of injury was too great for me,” said Badstübner on Wednesday evening shortly after the cancellation. “The place is in a disastrous condition.”
Due to heavy rain, the pitch in the Ludwigsparkstadion was unplayable. It is not yet clear when the game will be rescheduled. “Saarbrücken tried everything so that we could play. There were a lot of staff on the pitch to somehow clear the pitch of water, but they didn’t manage it,” said Badstübner. “Then when we were warming up you saw how the players were only warming up in one spot, no matter how broken the pitch was. Then it was clear that we couldn’t play.”
The draw will still take place
It is not the first time this season that a game in Saarbrücken has had to be canceled due to heavy rain. Memories of the third division game against Dresden, which was canceled at the end of October because the pitch was unplayable, are brought back.
It is obviously no coincidence that the pitch was once again unplayable due to heavy rain. According to Kicker reporter Moritz Kreilinger, 200,000 euros were saved for a drainage system when modernizing the stadium – an actually paltry amount with a total cost of around 46 million euros.