Led by Mats Hummels, the disappointed Dortmund football professionals said goodbye to the fans who had traveled with them with hanging heads. They quickly disappeared from the Stuttgart Arena after the possible chance of winning the DFB Cup title was lost. VfB, who were still surprisingly strong, celebrated with their fans, who can dream of a big coup.
“It was lacking at the front and back today, we weren’t strong enough in the duels, it was a catastrophe in terms of football, you have to be honest,” said Dortmund national player Emre Can after the 0-2 (0-0) defeat in the round of 16 on ZDF. “It can’t go on like this. We are Dortmund, there has to be more.” You have to sit down and analyze, “because that’s just not good enough of us.”
Top striker Serhou Guirassy (54th minute) and substitute Silas (77th) scored in front of 54,200 spectators for the Swabians, who celebrated their fourth competitive win in a row and have a lot of confidence in the upcoming league duel with Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday.
For Dortmund, who have been disappointing for a long time and are already ten points behind leaders Leverkusen in the Bundesliga, important points are at stake against RB Leipzig on Saturday in the fight for the Champions League places.
Hertha BSC continues to let its fans dream of the final in their own stadium. After a dramatic DFB Cup evening against Hamburger SV, the Berlin second division team moved into the quarter-finals of the DFB Cup. Hertha won 5:3 on penalties. After 120 minutes it was 3:3 (3:3, 2:2) in the Olympic Stadium. In the penalty shootout, Hertha’s goalkeeper Tjark Ernst saved Ransford-Yeboah Königsdörffer, then Fabian Reese happily scored to win.
In front of 58,946 spectators, including several thousand HSV fans, Reese initially gave Hertha under coach Pal Dardai the lead (21st minute). Immanuel Pherai (31′) and Laszlo Benes (43′) struck back before Reese equalized (90′). The Berlin-born Königsdörffer (102nd) initially scored for HSV in extra time, before Jonjoe Kenny (120th) equalized late for the Berliners – and sent them into the ultimately successful penalty shootout.
Favorite fright 1. FC Saarbrücken has landed the next cup coup and, after record champions Bayern Munich, also knocked last year’s finalists Eintracht Frankfurt out of the competition. The third division soccer team won the round of 16 duel against the Conference League participants 2-0 (0-0) and is in the quarter-finals for the ninth time in the club’s history.
In front of 15,903 spectators in the sold-out Ludwigsparkstadion, Kai Brünker in the 64th minute and Luca Kerber (78th) scored the goals for the outsider, who will receive a bonus of around 1.7 million euros for progressing. The Saarlanders have already raised more than three million euros in the current competition. In addition to the game, the disappointing Eintracht also lost Noel Futkeu, who was shown a red card after an assault (83′).
Clouded by injury concerns about Florian Wirtz, the record hunters from Bayer Leverkusen have reached the quarter-finals of the DFB Cup and are favorites for the rest of the competition. The Bundesliga table leaders only managed to escape their mandatory task in the round of 16 against the brave second division tenth-placed SC Paderborn with difficulty, winning 3-1 (2-0). After the elimination of record winners FC Bayern Munich and defending champions RB Leipzig, Bayer are now given the best chance of winning the title. After 21 competitive games this season, the Werkself are still unbeaten with 19 wins.
A big downer for Leverkusen was the injury-related loss of national player Wirtz, who had to leave the field after being kicked on the heel (44th minute). Wirtz was then able to perform, but was escorted into the dressing room with a contorted face in pain and supported by two supervisors. Bayer initially wrote that the 20-year-old had suffered a “painful blow to his ankle.”
The goals for Bayer were scored by Victor Boniface (12th) with his 14th competitive goal since his move in the summer, the Argentine world champion Exequiel Palacios (29th) and Patrik Schick twelve minutes after coming on as a substitute (87th). Paderborn, which won 3-1 at SC Freiburg in the previous round and whose coach Lukas Kwasniok led 1. FC Saarbrücken into the semi-finals as the first fourth division team in 2020, shortened the score thanks to Sebastian Klaas (83′). But it wasn’t enough for the third quarter-final in the club’s history after 2018 and 2019.
The quarter-finals of the DFB Cup will be drawn among the remaining teams on Sunday from 7:15 p.m.:
