As of: November 17, 2025 8:38 a.m
The HSV footballers are in the quarter-finals of the DFB Cup. Coach Liése Brancão’s team beat Bundesliga rivals Bayer Leverkusen 4-2 on penalties on Sunday.
After regular time and extra time, the score was 1-1 in front of 3,993 spectators in the Volksparkstadion. Sophie Hillebrand gave HSV the lead (68th), Julia Mickenhagen equalized for Bayer (73rd). She later failed as one of two Bayer players in the penalty shootout, while four Hamburg players scored from the spot.
The quarter-finals will take place from March 11th to 23rd next year. In addition to last year’s winners FC Bayern Munich, record cup winners VfL Wolfsburg – who won 3-1 against SC Freiburg on Saturday – are also in the round of the last eight. Brancão was very happy about progressing: “Today’s game was a reward for our development throughout the season. This win gives us a good feeling and we now want to take this feeling with us into the Bundesliga for our next game against Union Berlin.”
Brancão team too passive in the early stages
In the second duel with the Rhinelanders within eleven days – HSV lost the league game under the Bayer Cross 1-2 on November 5th – the Brancão team started a bit too wait-and-see. After seven minutes, the guests had already scored three shots, of which only Sofie Zdebel’s shot was reasonably dangerous (8th).
HSV increases but remains harmless
After the hosts had survived the factory club’s first phase of pressure unscathed, they increasingly found their way into the game. The duels were now conducted with the necessary robustness – and HSV also did well in possession of the ball. The newcomer initiated some well-thought-out attacks. In the bottom third of the field, the North Germans, who had only won once in the Bundesliga, lacked the necessary determination and conviction.
Since Bayer too rarely got the ball in front of the HSV goal, most of the action took place between the penalty areas. The spectators didn’t see more than a few half chances before the break.
Mickenhagen counters Hamburg’s lead through Hillebrand
Even after the break, penalty area scenes remained in short supply. Almost nothing worth mentioning happened until the 65th minute. Then, after a nice turn, Melanie Brunnthaler almost scored from a few meters, which would have been very dangerous. But at the last moment Bayer was able to clarify.
Sophie Hillebrand (r.) gave HSV the lead.
180 seconds later, Brunnthaler had the ball again. This time the Austrian passed to her compatriot Hillebrand, who maneuvered the ball past the rushing goalkeeper Anne Moll and into the goal.
The HSV footballers’ joy only lasted for a short time. Because Leverkusen had a great answer ready in the person of Mickenhagen: The defender took a measure from around 20 meters after a corner was blocked and scored to make it 1-1. However, the shot, which was undoubtedly technically perfect, didn’t look completely unsustainable for keeper Larissa Haidner.
Latte saves for beaten keeper Haidner
The 20-year-old would have been beaten for the second time in stoppage time if Estrella Merino González hadn’t hit the goalpost with her shot (90’+2). Shortly afterwards, Caroline Kehrer also missed a very good chance to make Leverkusen 2-1 (90+5), so it went into extra time.
Hillebrand almost scored her second goal
Even in extra time, Bayer were closer to their second goal than Hamburg, who appeared increasingly tired. Especially in the second section of extra time, the Rhinelanders pushed vehemently for the 2-1 in order to prevent the penalty “lottery”. However, HSV almost scored the goal in one of its few relief attacks: Hillebrand failed with a stray shot past Moll (115th).
Leverkusen lost their nerve in the penalty shootout
So the decision had to be made straight away. And in this Haidner became the hero when she parried Leverkusen’s second attempt by Mickenhagen. Shortly afterwards, Kehrer hit the crossbar. This meant HSV’s success and the associated move into the quarter-finals was perfect.
