David Raum angrily tore his shin pads off his legs, Marco Rose trotted off the pitch completely disappointed: RB Leipzig’s title hat-trick mission has failed. After a total of 13 successful games in a row in Leipzig’s favorite competition, a cold October evening in the DFB Cup was fatal for RB. In the second round, coach Rose’s team surprisingly lost 0-1 (0-1) to league rivals VfL Wolfsburg.
“It’s extremely bitter, if you miss a game, you’re simply out of this competition,” said Christoph Baumgartner: “We made it relatively easy for them.” Leipzig’s Yussuf Poulsen had to leave 150 days after the triumph in Berlin – the second in a row. sent off due to repeated foul play (56th). After that it was “of course difficult,” said Baumgartner.
The wolves, on the other hand, were enthusiastic. With his goal (14th), Vaclav Cerny secured the 2015 cup winners’ celebrated place in the round of 16. “Very few people were betting on us. That is outstanding. I’m overjoyed that it worked,” said VfL keeper Pavao Pervan.
The mood between the teams could hardly have been more different before kick-off. While the Wolfsburg team stumbled into the game with the burden of three defeats in a row, the guests, after their last three wins, had to stay “in the flow” and “take the momentum,” as Rose had demanded.
Eight changes to the starting line-up
But his team didn’t do him this favor at the beginning. After just a few seconds, VfL attacker Tiago Tomas tested Leipzig’s cup goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi with a low shot, and a little later the fans in the sparsely attended Wolfsburg Arena were allowed to cheer for the first time. The busy Tomas could not be separated from the ball in midfield – Cerny refined his strong pass to make it 1-0.
Wolves coach Niko Kovac made an impressive eight changes to the starting line-up after the 2-3 win against FC Augsburg, and his newly formed team remained the more dangerous even without top striker Jonas Wind. After a misunderstanding between Gulacsi and Castello Lukeba, Cerny had a chance to make it 2-0, but put the ball too far forward (24′).
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The Leipzig team, who had already had big problems in the 3-2 win over second division promoted Wehen Wiesbaden in the first round, initially seemed shocked. Without the unlucky Dani Olmo, who seriously injured his shoulder in the 6-0 win against 1. FC Köln and was out for a long time, the offensive was lame.
Although the dynamic changed at the start of the second half, there was no result: David Raum’s deflected cross hit the crossbar (47th) – Timo Werner’s low shot just missed the goal (54th). Then Leipzig decimated itself when Poulsen, who had already been booked, came too late against Aster Vranckx and was rightly sent off with a yellow-red card.
In an increasingly heated game, VfL took control again, but Leipzig remained dangerous and pushed for an equalizer despite being outnumbered. On the other side, Wind missed a shot at the post to make it 2-0 (90+6).
