Cup magic strikes again big time!
Arminia Bielefeld made history after knocking out Bayer Leverkusen in the semifinals of the DFB-Pokal.
Bielefeld are currently fourth place in the third division of German football, so to make it to the semifinals, beating three Bundesliga sides (Union Berlin, SC Freiburg, and Werder Bremen) in the process, was an incredible achievement in as of itself. However, they took it a step further and beat the defending champions, not to mention German champions, to book their ticket to Berlin.
Leverkusen were obviously the immense favorites going into the clash, and most likely breathed a sigh of relief after avoiding RB Leipzig and VfB Stuttgart in the semifinals draw. Indeed, at first it seemed Leverkusen was going to do what they were expected to do when they took the lead through Jonathan Tah in the 17th minute.
But the Bielefelders had other ideas, and the champions’ lead vanished in a mere three minutes when Marius Wörl tied the score. Still, Leverkusen were expected to pick up the pace soon enough.
Yet the game really became crazy when the home side took a shock lead through a well taken set piece, finished off by Maximilian Großer, just before halftime.
There was very little, if any, evidence that the two teams were separated by two divisions. Rather, Bielefeld did not hide from the champions and took the game to them directly. They recorded an impressive eight shots to Leverkusen’s 13, and were only one shot on goal behind Leverkusen’s four attempts. Yes, they did close up shop in the dying minutes like any other team would, but also managed to launch some vicious counterattacks that Leverkusen was barely able to parry.
Six minutes of stoppage time were given to the visitors, but Xabi Alonso’s side’s nasty habit of scoring late goals failed them for once, and they did not have a single clear cut chance in those precious minutes. Again, it was actually the underdogs who came closer to scoring.
And the final whistle went, sending the stadium into pandemonium. Bielefeld had reached the Pokal final for the first time in their history, and became only the fourth third-division side (after Energie Cottbus, Union Berlin, and Hertha BSC II) to do so.
The last non-first division team to reach the final was FC Kaiserslautern last year, while the last one to win it was Kickers Offenbach in 1970. Since the creation of the Bundesliga, they currently remain the only side to have achieved such a feat. No third division team has won the Pokal so far.
Ironically enough, while Bielefeld are in the final now, they need to maintain their place in the 3. Liga or win the Westphallen Pokal to qualify for the next edition of the tournament. So there could be a crazy situation where the defending champion does not even get a chance to defend their title.
Not that the fans will care one bit. Tonight is their night.
