Gladbach once again said goodbye early to the DFB Cup: on October 18 of the previous year, the second round was over at second division Darmstadt 98 after a 2-1 defeat.
Nevertheless, this competition is now becoming the great hope for all of Gladbach and coach Daniel Farke (46): Before the signpost game on Sunday (3:30 p.m. / DAZN) at penultimate Hertha BSC, the European dream is suddenly within reach again!
The background to this is a constellation in the cup quarter-finals that has never existed before in the history of this competition: at the time a round of the last eight was played, the top 6 in the Bundesliga had never been complete!
This means that there is a mega probability that seventh place will be enough for participation in international business at the end of the current season. It would only be different if 1. FC Nürnberg or VfB Stuttgart held up the pot in Berlin – and not Bayern Munich, Union Berlin, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, Eintracht Frankfurt or SC Freiburg.
What do Gladbach say about the chance of Europe? Very different…
Head of sport Roland Virkus (55): “We had planned to play a quiet, stable season. Of course, the whole thing is ambitious with the desire to always achieve the best possible result.” So far, this has usually only been possible every two weeks. Farke: “If we won every away game, we would be Bayern Munich and have a huge lead in the table. But of course the fans can dream of everything, they should too!”
The pros, on the other hand, tend to speak plainly. Hannes Wolf (23): “The international places are clearly our goal. We have the potential, as games like against Dortmund, Leipzig or in Munich showed. I absolutely believe in the quality of our team!”
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Ko Itakura (26) also makes it clear to BILD that the current 9th place is by no means enough for him: “We can do better! And of course we want to climb up the table. We are working on that in Berlin on Sunday!”
They are currently three points behind VfL Wolfsburg, who are likely to be seventh in Europe with 29 points. And if you listen to Virkus more closely, logically he also wants to get there: “Of course we’re not satisfied if we lose 1-0 in Augsburg or play 0-0 at home against Schalke!” Those are exactly the four points at the moment to the big money pots in the next season are missing…