DFB Cup, quarter-finals: | sportschau.de

As of: January 31, 2024 11:49 p.m

1. FC Kaiserslautern has reached the semi-finals of the DFB Cup. The Palatinate team fought for a confident victory against second division rivals Hertha BSC.

After Fortuna Düsseldorf the evening before, 1.FC Kaiserslautern is the second club to reach the DFB Cup semi-finals. Coach Dimitiros Grammozis’ team managed a 3-1 (2-0) win against Hertha BSC in the quarter-finals on Wednesday evening (January 31, 2024) in the Berlin Olympic Stadium, which was sold out with 75,000 spectators.

The goals for the Palatinate team were scored by Jan Elvedi (5th), Richmond Tachie (38th) and Filip Kaloc (69th). Fabian Reese scored for Berlin (90th).

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Berlin game of hide and seek

“I can’t really blame my team. The team was a bit weak physically. We’ve been carrying this around for a few weeks now. But we don’t need to sugarcoat anything here,” said Hertha coach Pal Dardai. “We were blocked in the first half. It was a game of hide and seek.” Maybe we dreamed too much and talked and read too much about the opportunity.”

Dennis Wiese, Sportschau, January 31, 2024 11:08 p.m

“We had very difficult weeks. We made very few mistakes, we are going on as deserved winners,” said Lautern midfielder Marlon Ritter.

The game took place again in memory of the recently deceased Hertha President Kay Bernstein. Also in the stadium was Bernstein’s widow, Eileen Bernstein-Rose, who a few hours earlier had called on fans to continue pursuing her husband’s goals for Hertha BSC.

Visible setback for Hertha

The game started spectacularly. The guests from Kaiserslautern already had reason to celebrate in the 5th minute. After an unsuccessful long-range shot by Tymoteusz Puchacz, the ball trickled to Elvedi, who, standing completely free in the penalty area, only had to push in from around ten meters to make it 1-0. The actual Hertha substitute goalkeeper Marius Gersbeck, who was surprisingly nominated for the starting eleven by coach Pal Dardai, had no chance of defending.

The early goal gave the Berliners a visible shock. The Dardai team found no gaps against the Palatinate team, who were compact in defense. And so both teams neutralized each other – apart from a few approaches to the goal, very little happened for a good half an hour. But then Kaiserslautern struck again.

Tabakovic misses a goal

After a goal kick from Gersbeck, the ball came back like a boomerang. Lautern’s Ritter intercepted the ball and passed it into the path of attacker Tachie, who made it 2-0 with a perfect shot from 13 meters.

Dennis Wiese, Sportschau, January 31, 2024 11:13 p.m

Hertha had to come up with something and they managed to get off to a decent start in the second half. Two minutes after the restart, the Berliners had their first big opportunity to score through Haris Tabakovic, but the attacker was denied by Lautern goalkeeper Julian Krahl from close range and completely unmarked.

Kaloc achieves preliminary decision

At least the Berliners managed to increase the intensity of their game. Substitute Reese in particular brought new momentum for the Hertha team. But the Grammozis team seemed extremely stable that evening and fought back as best they could. And the Lauterers waited for the opponent to make mistakes, which would follow.

Kaloc scored the preliminary decision after a blatantly bad pass in the Berlin midfield. Herthan substitute Andreas Bouchalakis played the ball into the path of Kaloc, who only had Gersbeck in front of him. Lautern’s new winter signing made the preliminary decision from 14 meters.

Hertha doesn’t give up

The Berliners didn’t give up and were able to prevail decisively at least once. Reese scored the deserved consolation goal for Hertha. However, the Berliners’ performance that evening was not enough against the extremely confident, calm and almost flawless team from Kaiserslautern.