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 football team won the round of 16 duel against the Conference League participants 2-0 (0-0) on Wednesday 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′).
As expected, the guests had more possession of the ball at the beginning, but couldn’t do much with it. The Hessians, who had changed four positions compared to the recent 1:2 in Augsburg, acted far too imprecisely in attack and did not pose any danger.
After a quarter of an hour, the outsider gave up his reluctance and initiated his first offensive actions, in which the Eintracht defense revealed some weaknesses. After a short defense by national goalkeeper Kevin Trapp, Kerber had the lead, but poked the ball out of the crowd but just wide of the post.
Shortly afterwards, the committed home team celebrated when Brünker scored with his head. According to the TV images, referee Daniel Siebert canceled the goal because of a previous foul on Frankfurt’s defense chief Robin Koch.
Saarbrücken were unimpressed by the dampening of the mood and were now the better team. There was no discernible difference between two classes. On the contrary: the Saarlanders played courageously forward and put the favorites under pressure.
The disappointing guests fired their first shot on goal after 37 minutes. However, Niels Nkounkou’s attempt did not pose any problems for FCS goalkeeper Tim Schreiber. The half-time draw was even a little lucky for the Bundesliga club, as Brünker missed another good opportunity for the third division team.
After the change, Frankfurt seemed to get the game under better control. Substitute Aurelio Buta had the best chance of the game so far, but his shot from close range hit the crossbar.
A little later, Saarbrücken struck ice cold. Goalkeeper Schreiber sent the ball with a long shot into the Frankfurt penalty area, where Brünker finished falling after a header from his strike partner Amine Naifi. Trapp was powerless against the placed low shot. When Kerber scored to make it 2-0, the next cup sensation was perfect.
Schedule DFB Cup Squad Eintracht Frankfurt Squad 1. FC Saarbrücken
