Hoffenheim’s Angelino meets his ex-club and is not happy. The Bavarians were funnier too. And Paderborn is hoping for a “magical night” – everything important about the first four games in the round of 16 of the DFB Cup on Tuesday (01/31/2023) and Wednesday (02/01/2023).
Attention, dear football fans: The round of 16 in the DFB Cup will be played on four different days this season, no games will be played at the same time. The background is a new marketing of the DFB Cup by the DFB, which has awarded the TV rights from the current season up to and including 2025/26. Of course it’s also about the money. Read more about the background here:
SC Paderborn – VfB Stuttgart (Tuesday, 6 p.m.)
In tabular terms, there isn’t much between SC Paderborn and VfB Stuttgart. The guests from Swabia are 15th in the Bundesliga, the Paderborn are fifth in league two and have the best offensive there with 36 goals.
Therefore, before the round of 16 of the DFB Cup, the club is probably rightly hoping for a progression. “We’ll leave our last shirts on the pitch. After all, it’s about a lot of money and a great feeling.”said coach Lukas Kwasniok: “We look forward to a magical night.”
Such was the case in the second round, when Paderborn had already kicked a higher-class opponent out of the cup in Werder Bremen. In round one, the SC had also ensured the only two-digit win at Unity Wernigerode, 10:0.
For the Stuttgart team, there was no win in the third game under new coach Bruno Labbadia, who came at the beginning of December. It will be a special game for Fabian Wohlgemuth. It was only in December that VfB brought him from Paderborn to succeed sporting director Sven Mislintat. Wohlgemuth worked for SC for more than two and a half years.
1. FC Union Berlin – VfL Wolfsburg (Tuesday, 8.45 p.m.)
It’s a premiere, Union and Wolfsburg have never played against each other in the DFB Cup. The two teams have often met in the Bundesliga, most recently in September when the Berliners easily won 2-0. At the time, Union was top of the table and Wolfsburg second to last.
Before the reunion, 1. FC Union and VfL Wolfsburg have come closer, at least in the table. After the defeat against Union, VfL had been unbeaten for ten games until last weekend. Wolfsburg narrowly lost to Bremen. Wolfsburg is now seventh in the table, Union is second.
It will be a special game for Berlin’s defense chief Robin Knoche. He had played for Wolfsburg as a youth and never left the club until he joined Union two and a half years ago. He will not have regretted the change, he is successful in Berlin. Just enjoying, says Knoche, is sometimes neglected. “Maybe that’s a good thing, because you can’t think that much.”
RB Leipzig – TSG Hoffenheim (Wednesday, 6 p.m.)
Reunion is fun, but not always: The Spaniard Angelino was a left-back at RB Leipzig for two and a half years, first he was loaned from Manchester City, then Leipzig bought him. But when RB signed David Raum as a new left-back in the summer, there was no more room for Angelino. He instead went from Leipzig to Hoffenheim on loan, while Raum moved from Hoffenheim to Leipzig.
Angelino has just given the “kicker” a longer interview. He says: “If you don’t get a chance to fight for your position, that’s something that really hurts a player.” In the Bundesliga, Angelino has already played against the old one with his new club, that was in November and it didn’t go so well. Angelino prepares a goal, but Hoffenheim lost 1:3.
In general, things are not going well for Hoffenheim. TSG have been waiting for a win for eight Bundesliga games and have only scored two points in this period, in 13th place. The mood among opponents Leipzig should be much better. The club have been unbeaten since mid-September and are third in the Bundesliga, just two points behind Bayern.
1. FSV Mainz 05 – Bayern Munich (Wednesday, 8.45 p.m.)
After FC Bayern’s third draw in the third game of the year, coach Julian Nagelsmann said he could handle the pressure well. “Do not worry.” That’s a good thing, because there’s always pressure when things don’t go well for the record champions. And it’s not working right now.
In general, Nagelsmann sees it, they don’t have a real crisis in Munich, just one “Results Crisis”. A victory in the cup against Mainz would be just right. Thomas Müller, who was again in the starting XI in the 1-1 draw against Eintracht Frankfurt at the weekend, also had some advice for his team-mates. He said: “We have to start our anger engine now.”
However, Bayern lost the last two Bundesliga games against Rheinhessen – 3-1 and 2-1. And Mainz are in a good mood anyway, especially Karim Onisiwo, who recently scored three times in the 5-2 win over Bochum. Bayern might prefer to look at the cup statistics. There they met Mainz twice, left the field as winners and in the end also won the cup.