German Cup holders Bayer Leverkusen suffered a shock 2-1 elimination at Arminia Bielefeld within the semi-finals of the competitors on Tuesday. Xabi Alonso’s facet had been closely favoured to succeed in their second successive remaining however had been outclassed from begin to end by their underdog opponents. Jonathan Tah’s Seventeenth-minute objective was cancelled out by a Marius Woerl strike for the hosts three minutes later. Maximilian Grosser’s objective in first-half stoppage time would show the distinction for Bielefeld, who’ve now crushed 4 top-division opponents on their strategy to the ultimate.
Bielefeld, who’ve by no means made a German Cup remaining, turned simply the fourth third-division group to succeed in the showpiece occasion.
Should Bielefeld win in Berlin in May — they are going to face both RB Leipzig or Stuttgart — the membership will likely be rewarded with a Europa League spot subsequent season.
Home coach Michel Kniat mentioned: “We did not want luck in any respect as a result of we had been on the entrance foot the entire time.”
The coach mentioned he “usually would not have a drink with the gamers, however tonight I’ll make an exception”, including that “no person will fall asleep on this metropolis tonight”.
Leverkusen’s Robert Andrich mentioned it was “by far our worst sport of the season” and added that “Bielefeld deserved the win tonight, which implies we did loads of issues fallacious”.
Leverkusen coach Alonso got here into the sport having by no means misplaced in 10 matches within the competitors and wanted only one extra victory to beat Louis van Gaal’s all-time report set as Bayern Munich supervisor.
Everything appeared to go in response to plan when Leverkusen took the lead after 17 minutes, Tah tapping in unmarked on the far publish.
The hosts hit again virtually instantly nonetheless, Woerl profiting from a sloppy clearance try by Piero Hincapie to twist the ball house.
As the half wore on, Leverkusen had been unable to make their possession rely, with Bielefeld quick and threatening on the counter.
The hosts as soon as once more caught Leverkusen napping to take the lead moments earlier than halftime, Grosser hammering in a Louis Oppie free kick from shut vary.
Bielefeld continued to out-energise their opponents, combating within the duels and giving Leverkusen few possibilities to tug themselves again into the sport.
Patrick Schick, so typically Leverkusen’s late hero over the previous two seasons, had an opportunity to degree the scores whereas unmarked after 81 minutes however hit a header in opposition to the publish.
This 12 months’s German Cup is likely one of the extra open in latest reminiscence, with latest champions Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Eintracht Frankfurt all struggling early eliminations from the competitors.
On Wednesday, RB Leipzig play away at Stuttgart within the different semi-final.
Leipzig, who’ve gained two of the previous three German Cups, will likely be managed by interim coach Zsolt Low, who took over after Marco Rose was sacked on Sunday.
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