Joker Jona Niemiec shot Fortuna Düsseldorf into the cup quarter-finals with a late brace. The substitute striker turned the game between 1. FC Magdeburg and Düsseldorf in just six minutes.
With his equalizer in the 87th minute, he equalized Magdeburg’s lead through Baris Atik (15th), before scoring the winning goal in stoppage time (90th 3) in front of 20,090 spectators in the MDCC Arena to make it 2-1 (0 :1) scored. For Fortuna it is the first quarter-final participation since the 2019/2020 season.
Happy leadership
Magdeburg’s playmaker Atik was lucky to take the early lead after a quarter of an hour, as his cross from the half field to Luc Castaignos went straight into the goal after a touchdown as the striker could no longer reach the ball. Guest keeper Karol Niemczycki, who was allowed to replace Florian Kastenmeier, also didn’t get the ball.
Fortuna, who made four changes after the 5-0 win in Nuremberg, had to go behind early on. That gave little security. In addition, Düsseldorf tried too often with long balls. After the visitors lost the ball, Xavier Amaechie (31′) could have increased the score, but he only hit the outside post from a tight angle.
After the change, Fortuna was suddenly wide awake and played cheerfully. Only the last precise pass was missing too often. The hosts used the Rhinelander’s pressure phase to create good counterattack opportunities. As the FCM wanted to keep the result over time, Silas Gnaka’s loss of the ball initiated the counterattack, which substitute Niemiec completed with a shot into the right corner. When everyone expected extra time, the Joker struck again and scored the victory.
