Bayer Leverkusen lived up to its role as favorite and reached the semi-finals of the DFB Cup against FC St. Pauli for the third time in a row. Coach Kasper Hjulmand’s team won 3-0 (1-0) in the quarter-finals against combative Hamburg and can continue to dream of a title this season. In front of 30,210 spectators in the sold-out BayArena, Martin Terrier (32nd minute), Patrik Schick (63rd) and substitute Jonas Hofmann (90th +2) scored the goals for the Werkself.
Things became dangerous early on in front of the Bayer goal after a first corner from St. Pauli (4th). But the guests were unable to take advantage of the situation in the densely packed five-yard box. Bayer then tried to take control with a lot of possession and increasingly pushed the game into the opponent’s half. St. Pauli countered this approach with early pressing. In the 17th minute, the guests, who were in a relegation battle in the Bundesliga, were very lucky: Ben Voll, who was standing between the posts in place of regular goalkeeper Nikola Vasilj, played a bad pass straight into the home team’s feet in the opening game. However, Schick reacted too hesitantly in front of the empty goal, so Karol Mets was able to block the shot.
St. Pauli remained dangerous and missed the lead in the 24th minute when Joel Fujita shot just wide of the goal from twelve meters. The guests now became stronger and pushed Bayer further and further into their own half. Despite a higher proportion of ball possession, the Leverkusen team often acted too sedately, especially in the tempo game going forward.
After this brief period of pressure from the guests, the 2024 cup winners returned, but initially remained stuck in midfield. When St. Pauli failed to consistently clear a cross, Terrier took advantage of the disorder, turned on the edge of the penalty area and scored to make it 1-0. Undeterred by the deficit, Pauli had a great chance before the break. But Martijn Kaars shot over the goal (40th). St. Pauli provided impetus with a double substitution immediately after the restart. With temperatures near freezing point, the picture was initially the same as before the break: Hamburg tried patiently to find gaps in the defense, while Leverkusen had more possession of the ball, but hardly created any scenes of their own in the goal area.
However, Bayer once again appeared callous and increased their lead to 2-0 with their first chance of the second half: After a corner, Aleix Garcia hit a cross from the half-court to Schick, who volleyed into the far corner. Pauli once again came dangerously in front of the goal with a blocked shot from Danel Sinani (70th), while Joker Hofmann (75th) first hit the post for Leverkusen. The 33-year-old did better in stoppage time.
