1. FC Lok Leipzig wins against FSV Zwickau and advances to the Sachsenpokal final

Leipzig. Heroes are born in the cup – and sometimes these heroes have long hair. For the biggest game of the season so far, 1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig hosted the third division team FSV Zwickau, the occasion was the semi-finals of the Saxony Cup. The final dream was realized with a top performance and the can opener by Zak-Paulo Piplica, who scored the decisive 1-0 in the 47th minute.

The newly crowned cup hero couldn’t believe it himself, explained after the final whistle: “After the goal, I thought about all the scenarios of how we would leave the pitch as winners. I just thought, hopefully the game will be over soon.” It was a good 40 minutes before the Lok Kickers were allowed to celebrate. Emotions that Farid Abderrahmane summed up: “An incredible feeling!”

Surprise between the posts: Isa Dogan starts

“Swans approaching” – that’s how it is emblazoned on the Zwickau team bus. This usually does not mean anything good, the aggressive birds are not pets and can cause nasty damage if you try to stroke them. On the soccer field, however, it was completely different today, because the guests were plucked from the start by furious Leipzigers.

Coach Almedin Civa had to replace some important pillars of his well-rehearsed squad, he even removed one voluntarily. Osman Atilgan served his suspension from the game against Grimma, Leon Heynke is injured. Captain Sascha Pfeffer wanted to keep Civa in the back and brought Riccardo Grym back from the start, the very thin bench needs offensive options. The rotation between the posts caused some misunderstanding, cup hero Niclas Müller would have deserved the nomination, but the coach relied on Isa Dogan again.

Pack formation, yellow cards, malice from the ranks

There was a lot of activity on the honorary stand, next to President Torsten Kracht his predecessor Thomas Löwe and ex-coach Wolfgang Wolf took their places. With their choreography at the beginning of the game, the Leipzig fans thought it matched the marching-in music of the actors with Ozzy Osbourne and wanted to see the “Crazy Train” derail – certainly not their own locomotive.

“We won’t get that many chances against Zwickau, we have to take them” – these were the words of Djamal Ziane after the last-minute win against BAK. The man was wrong, only Ziane had four decent chances on foot and head in the first half, saved twice, narrowly missed, hissed over (7th, 10th, 19th, 41st). His team was overwhelmingly superior, the strong Ogbidi crossed his foot numb, Piplica pressed in the front line like a hydraulic press.

The swans showed their currently weak league form, even if they scored a threesome against Mannheim at the weekend. Accompanied by warm chants of “relegated!”, the Zwickau team didn’t really find their way into the game, only towards the end of the first half there were a few guest chances. The whole cup range was also offered for juicy pack formations, with referee Jens Klemm handing out yellow cards to the arguments just before the break. The whistle was a welcome blood pressure reducer.

Most of the 6390 spectators were probably still looking for a beer in vain when the Leipzig cup fever escalated, in the 47th minute Zak-Paulo Piplica struck – only really with a flowing mane. Once again Theo Ogbidi had dribbled through to the left, couldn’t get a grip on it, his cross steered “Pipi” over the line with a hoe – a state of emergency! And the chances didn’t diminish, Ziane (56th) and Ogbidi (62nd) could almost have extended the lead. But Sch… on it, the cup final is only once a year – and the Probstheidaer couldn’t take that anymore. No trembling, no hoping and worrying, there was simply not enough from the people of Zwickau.

The celebrations could begin, the fans couldn’t wait. A few euphorically stormed the pitch with the final whistle, but after a short speech from the players and the police approaching, they quickly headed back towards the stands.

The next league game is already waiting for Lok on the horizon. There you can rehearse against Chemnitzer FC for the new edition of the 2021 final, certainly not with maximum intensity. On June 3rd the time has come, a new hero is being sought.

All names, all goals:

1. FC Lok Leipzig: Dogan – Voufack, Urban, Sirch, Eglseder – Abderrahmane, Piplica (90.+3 Weigel) – Ogbidi, Grym (78. Pfeffer), Dombrowa (90.+1 Rangelov) – Ziane

FSV Zwickau: Brinkies – Ziegele (78. Löhmannsröben), Susac (46. Coskun), Frick – Butzen, Könnecke (14. Carrera), Gomez, Jansen, Voigt (70. Schneider) – Baumann, Eichinger

Tore: 1:0 Piplica (47th),

Yellow cards: Voufack (45.+2), Jansen (45.+2), Frick (90.)

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