The foals experience a pitch-black day and are eliminated from the DFB Cup. The Hütter-Elf doesn’t succeed against furiously playing Lower Saxony – at 96 it looks different.
What a debacle for Borussia Mönchengladbach in the round of 16 of the DFB Cup. The foals made a fool of themselves at 0: 3 (0: 2) at second division side Hannover 96 and are out. Maximilian Beier (4th, 51st) and Sebastian Kerk (36th, hand penalty) scored for furiously playing Lower Saxony, who could have won even better against Gladbach, who were completely indisposed at times. Just one round after the memorable 5-0 win against FC Bayern, coach Adi Hütter’s team was eliminated in the most embarrassing way imaginable.
In front of 500 spectators, the hosts used their first chance to take the lead. After a mistake by Nico Elvedi, Beier scored in the fourth minute. According to video evidence, Kerk scored with a hand penalty (36th), newcomer Marvin Friedrich was the unlucky raven. Six minutes after the restart, Beier showed his speed again and completed an ice-cold counterattack. Borussia had recently lost five of the past seven matches in the league, a worrying descent.
Gladbach seemed paralyzed at times
The rapid deficit paralyzed the guests visibly. Apart from a goal opportunity for Florian Neuhaus (12th), who failed from close range at the strong 96 goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler, the Bundesliga twelfth player could not manage a compelling attack for almost half an hour. Hütter kept raising his arms in the Hanoverian evening sky in disbelief.
The Austrian had decided to fall back on Matthias Ginter, who was willing to change and recently not considered, on the right side of defence. The defender was still one of the more solid players. But his commitment was not a present for his 28th birthday, the coach explained on the Sky microphone before the game.
Hanover had little trouble
During the half-time break, Hütter reacted to the disappointing intermediate result. Breel Embolo was supposed to give the guests more power in attack, and Denis Zakaria also came into play. But this personnel measure was not fruitful either: Gladbach’s attacking actions were still too predictable and defective on the defensive. When they conceded the third goal, the guests let themselves be countered after their own corner. Manu Kone cut a very bad figure.
The second division twelfth then had little trouble keeping Borussia away from their own penalty area. And if a shot slipped through, Zieler was a sovereign support. The few visitors celebrated the keeper with chants. 96 coach Christoph Dabrowski could even afford to take his double goal scorer Beier off the field after 72 minutes to rest.
Leipzig continue without any problems
RB Leipzig, on the other hand, made it through to the quarter-finals with a working win and, in the absence of Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, can dream of the first title in the club’s history. The Bundesliga runners-up and last year’s finalist won their round of 16 2-0 (1-0) against second-division side Hansa Rostock.
Striker Yussuf Poulsen (6th) and Dani Olmo (82nd) shot Leipzig into the next round, which will be played on March 1st and 2nd. After Bayern and the defending champion BVB were eliminated, RB is one of the closest favorites for winning the cup in the final on May 21 in Berlin. In the past three seasons, Leipzig had reached the final twice, but lost to Munich in 2019 (0:3) and in 2021 to Dortmund (1:4).
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