The stars of FC Bayern stood on the pitch completely satisfied, while the underdogs of 1. FC Saarbrücken celebrated their coup.
The record soccer cup winner from Munich failed again in the DFB Cup well before the final. On the deep ground of the Ludwigsparkstadion, Thomas Tuchel’s team lost 1:2 (1:1) to the third division team. Three days before the Bundesliga clash at Borussia Dortmund, Bayern found it more than difficult in the second round game, which had been in danger for a long time due to the heavy rain.
“The good thing is that we’re playing again, there’s not much to think about,” said goalscorer Thomas Müller on ARD. “Even if it’s a brutal blow for us.” He could find “many reasons”. “You can only congratulate the Saarbrücken team. If Bayern Munich loses in Saarbrücken, we will definitely have done a lot of things wrong.”
Saarbrücken’s goalkeeper Schreiber: “Simply awesome!”
The mood at the third division team was completely different: “I can’t believe it, it’s crazy,” said goalkeeper Tim Schreiber. “Just crazy!”. In front of 16,000 spectators, Müller (16th) scored for Bayern, star striker Harry Kane was spared by Tuchel. Patrick Sontheimer (45.1) equalized for the third division team before the break – and then Marcel Gaus (90.6) shot the outsiders into luck. A knee injury to Matthijs de Ligt further marred Bayern’s evening, who last won the cup in 2020.
During an inspection of the pitch in the morning, referee Frank Willenborg found the pitch to be playable. On Sunday, Saarbrücken’s game against Dynamo Dresden was canceled at halftime because of puddles on the track. “It looks better than it is,” Bayern coach Tuchel said about the pitch on ARD shortly before kick-off, but he also emphasized: “Of course that’s not enough to cancel a game, it’s clear.”
FCB with Neuer in the starting line-up
Bayern only arrived on the day of the match and went into the game with national goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, who had celebrated his much-noticed comeback four days ago. Most recently, the second round of the cup was the final destination twice and the quarter-finals once. With an extremely optimistic banner across the entire east stand, the FCS fans commemorated the Saarlanders’ legendary 6-1 win against Bayern in the 1976/77 Bundesliga season: “Well recovered after dreary years, history is being repeated today. “
But after a good quarter of an hour it didn’t necessarily look like it was going to happen: the favorite had rarely really pushed the pace until then, but Müller shot flat into the left corner from 22 meters to take the lead. Nevertheless, the Munich team looked quite worried in the 19th minute: De Ligt injured his right knee and the Dutch defender had to limp off the pitch.
Saarbrücken disciplined and courageous
Coach Rüdiger Ziehl’s extremely disciplined home team repeatedly ventured forward and sometimes found astonishing gaps. The German champions’ poor demeanor was punished in stoppage time in the first half: Lukas Boeder won the ball from debutant Frans Krätzig, played it free to Sontheimer, and he equalized.
In 2020, the FCS was the first fourth division team ever to reach the semi-finals, only failing at Bayer Leverkusen. With substitutes Jamal Musiala, Serge Gnabry after a long absence and Kingsley Coman, the Saarbrücken team were introduced to three new top strikers after just under an hour. Bayern clearly dominated the game, but were caught cold shortly before the end.
