Motto in the bucket: With the saying “Better disgusting than not again – in the fourth attempt to the final !!!” On a board at the training ground, 1. FC Saarbrücken had prepared for the cup semi-final against Bayer Leverkusen. The team of coach Lukas Kwasniok initially implemented the first part with a rustic 5-5-0 system and tough duel behavior. The rest, however, remained a dream.
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The first half: Without game practice, regional league and third division promoters Saarbrücken first had to gain security. He managed this very well in the Völklingen Hermann Neuberger Stadium for ten minutes, but when Kerem Demirbay was allowed to fit into the penalty area for the first time without pressure, it happened promptly: Demirbay’s beautiful chip landed at Moussa Diaby, who with his “wrong” right foot took the ball directly and put it through the legs of FCS goalkeeper Daniel Batz into the goal (11th minute). Lucas Alario increased early to 2-0 (19th). Leverkusen let the ball run, Saarbrücken ran in vain with great effort.
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Unequal requirements: 94 days without a game at 1. FC Saarbrücken were five games since the Bundesliga restart at Bayer Leverkusen. As the first fourth division team in the cup semi-finals, it would have been difficult for FCS against a Bundesliga top team anyway, so the chances of the blatant outsider had almost vanished before the kick-off.
The second half: Finally brave! The FCS disrespectfully went into the second half, went into the pressing much earlier and came through Anthony Barella to a first bigger chance (56th). In the middle of Saarbrücken’s best phase, Karim Bellarabi (58.) made it 3-0. Markus Mendler missed a possible goal for the hosts in added time from close range (90. + 1).
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Apart from that, opportunities were missed above all by the Bayer offensive players – the score remained 3-0 for the guests. It was the first competitive win for Leverkusen in Saarbrücken. In the two Bundesliga duels in 1985 and 1992, they had each lost 1: 3. Attacking the last FCS victory: US crowd favorite Eric Wynalda, who celebrated his 51st birthday today. His fingers crossed shouldn’t help.
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Good omen for Bayer: Saarbrücken had reached the semi-finals of the DFB Cup three times before, losing three times to the later title holder: 1957 against FC Bayern Munich, 1958 against VfB Stuttgart, 1985 against Bayer Uerdingen. Is Bayer Leverkusen number four in 2020?
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Bosz in Van Gaal’s footsteps: Bayers coach Peter Bosz made five changes to the Bundesliga game against Bayern Munich last Saturday. Among other things, the youngest goal scorer in Bundesliga history, Florian Wirtz, moved into the starting lineup. The many changes did not affect the quality of the game, Bayer is back in the final for the first time since 2009. Bosz can become the first Dutch coach to win the cup since Louis van Gaal (2010, 4-0 against Werder Bremen). It would be his greatest success as a manager, as a player he won the Dutch Cup three times with Feyenoord. In 1993 he became a master alongside Alfred Schreuder – the Schreuder who had to go to TSG Hoffenheim today.
Conciliatory end of the season: The FCS can take a lot of tailwind into the upcoming third division season. With 1. FC Köln and Fortuna Düsseldorf, two first division clubs could be eliminated in the cup, the move into the semi-finals brought the club more than five million euros in revenue. For the first time in 20 years, the Saarbruecken, who had slipped to the 5th division in the meantime, are debt-free. That will be enough football miracle for those FCS fans who drove to the Oberliga away games in Bad Breisig, Köllerbach or Waldalgesheim in the 2008/2009 season.
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