Leverkusen, Stuttgart, Mönchengladbach: Only three first division teams are still competing in the DFB Cup. League leaders Leverkusen now seem to be the clear favorites. But coach Xabi Alonso warns.
Record winners FC Bayern are out, defending champions RB Leipzig are out, runners-up Borussia Dortmund are out – but Xabi Alonso takes every opponent seriously.
“There are also St. Pauli, Fortuna Düsseldorf or Hertha,” said the former world and European champion when asked whether he and Bayer Leverkusen are now the clear favorites in the DFB Cup. Bayer undoubtedly has this status. After all, apart from the Bundesliga leaders, only VfB Stuttgart and Borussia Mönchengladbach are in the quarter-finals.
But that is exactly warning enough for Alonso. “There are always surprises in the cup,” he said. And then the Basque explained why he particularly warns against the second division teams: “I see the quality, they play good football. And the cup is a different competition.”
Stanisic: “It’s not far to Berlin”
Despite the ultimately befitting 3-1 in the round of 16, SC Paderborn, tenth in the second division, also showed this on Wednesday. “Not many people have managed to go into halftime with 3-3 shots on goal in Leverkusen,” said coach Lukas Kwasniok. The goal was to keep the game open for as long as possible, said the coach, “and not to isolate ourselves like one or two Bundesliga teams have done here.” What Kwasniok didn’t say: Like Dortmund three days earlier in the 1-1 draw.
But the second division teams are probably the smaller threat for Bayer. The bigger one is the Africa Cup in January, when goal scorer Victor Boniface, the set defenders Odilon Kossounou and Edmond Tapsoba as well as Nathan Tella and Amine Adli will be missing five players for up to a month – and perhaps also the quarter-finals, which are still to be drawn.
But one thing is clear: “It’s not far to Berlin,” said Bayern loanee Josip Stanisic, who has never seen the final in the capital with the Munich team. But the Croatian also warned: “We still have to stay focused. Regardless of whether we are playing against a first, second or third division team.”
Source: Stern
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