DFB Cup, semi-final: Final whistle in Saarbrücken – second division team Kaiserslautern travels to Berlin

Football DFB Cup, semi-finals

Final whistle in Saarbrücken – second division team Kaiserslautern travels to Berlin

Status: 02.04.2024 | Reading time: 3 minutes

The preliminary decision: Almamy Touré (4th from right) celebrates after his goal to make it 2-0 for FCK

Source: dpa/Uwe Anspach

Before the explosive derby in the DFB Cup, everyone looked at the pitch and the weather with excitement. But the semi-final between third division team Saarbrücken and Kaiserslautern could take place. The game in the live ticker.

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On Wednesday, Bundesliga leaders Bayer Leverkusen and second division team Fortuna Düsseldorf will play the second finalist. Xabi Alonso was world champion, twice European champion and won the Champions League twice. But the thought of his only cup final in Berlin makes Leverkusen’s coach’s eyes shine – he didn’t even play in it.

“The scenario was incredible, the atmosphere was almost like a Champions League final,” said the Spaniard, who sat on the bench for 120 minutes in the 2016 final win with FC Bayern Munich against Borussia Dortmund on penalties because of a bruised rib. “It’s still a nice memory for me,” he said: “Playing in a final is perhaps the best feeling for a footballer. And that in Berlin is very special.”

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From Alonso’s point of view, the semi-final at home against second division team Fortuna Düsseldorf on Wednesday (8.45 p.m./ZDF and Sky) offers Bayer “a great opportunity”, and reaching the final is a “great motivation”. But the coach also has great respect for the third-place team in the second division. “This is a courageous team, with intense players, very flexible and dynamic, with a very good coach. “This is a top team that deserves to be in the semi-finals and has a good chance of playing in the Bundesliga next year,” said Alonso.

Of course he accepts the role of favorite, “but it means nothing. We have to be better on the pitch. And if we’re not better, we’re out.” He also had penalty shoot-outs trained, just in case. “That could be a scenario. We are prepared for anything,” said the coach, who doesn’t want to leave anything to chance: “We want to win the game in 90 minutes, but anything can happen.”

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The seemingly invincible almost-master continues to be humble on the way to a tangible double, while the clear outsider is emphatically brash. “They have to lose at some point, why not against us?” asked goalkeeper Florian Kastenmaier in the “Kicker” interview. And coach Daniel Thioune gave the cheeky instruction: “Go there, win, go home and spend two nights in Berlin. My dream is to sit in the Olympic Stadium with the golden thing on the evening of May 25th.” But the coach is also clear: “We don’t decide whether we advance. Only Bayer Leverkusen will do that with what they give us.”

Rolfes warns about Düsseldorf

The combination of the club’s great cup history combined with the long dry spell is causing a lot of excitement around the club. “The joy can be felt throughout the city. We can achieve something historic,” said sports director Christian Weber, whose club has not been in the final since winning the cup in 1980. The Fortuna record from that time is still valid today, winning 18 cup games in a row.

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However, it still seems difficult to imagine that Leverkusen’s current, very impressive streak will come to an end on Wednesday and the Werkself will suffer their first defeat in the 40th competitive game of the season at home against a second division team. But if that were to happen, it would be all the more embarrassing for Leverkusen, where Victor Boniface, who is still the season’s top goalscorer, is about to make his first appearance in 2024 after his adductor injury.

Sports director Simon Rolfes, who was in the final in Berlin with Bayer in 2009 as a player and as an official in 2020 and lost in each case, is “really looking forward to this game. The cup is something very special. We really want to go to Berlin.” But he also warns against the Fortunes, who have worked their way into the relegation spot with 13 out of 15 possible points from the last five games. “Fortuna has a good team and I believe they will be promoted.” Rolfes has a special relationship with Fortuna’s sports director Klaus Allofs: “I once got my first professional contract from him in Bremen.”