Nico Kovac was not at all surprised by his goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky's last-minute penalty save in the DFB Cup on Wednesday night. “In Salif Sané, we looked at the right penalty taker and the right corner – the left-hand side,” revealed Eintracht Frankfurt’s coach after the 2-1 win over second-division Hannover 96 in the round of 16.
The ‘keeper saved a 96th minute penalty, and therefore maintained his side’s advantage and kept the game from going to extra time. The Finnish goalkeeper joked after the match: “I just wanted to get home on time.”
Bielefeld “an opposition to be taken seriously”
A successful night was made better when it was revealed shortly before midnight that Arminia Bielefeld had been drawn against Eintracht in the quarterfinals - one of the lowest-ranked sides in the competition. Nevertheless, the Bundesliga outfit’s management are not taking the second-division side lightly.
“If a team has made it to the quarters then they’ve earned it and are an opponent to be taken seriously,” warned board representative Fredi Bobic. The next set of DFB Cup fixtures will take place on the 28th of February and the 1st of March.
Kovac: “We won’t dream of the semi-finals too soon”
Head coach Kovac also doesn’t want to underestimate their lower-league opponents: “The danger is that we take our opposition too lightly, we won’t start dreaming of the semi-finals too soon.”
Reaching the last-four would just add to Frankfurt's impressive season so far. In the summer, they narrowly avoided relegation but now find themselves third in the Bundesliga and leading the chasing pack behind top two Bayern and RB Leipzig. “We’ve done a lot right and I'm very happy that we didn’t have to play extra time,” noted Kovac.
Penalty taker Harnik subbed off
Hannover can consider themselves unlucky to have subbed off their usual penalty taker Harnik in the 78th minute. Captain Manuel Schmiedebach said “it wasn’t decided who’d take the penalty, we don’t blame Salif. It was somehow clear he’d step up to the spot.”
The narrow defeat has however given belief to the North German club that they’ll be able to hold their own next season in the Bundesliga if they win promotion this year. “My team did well over the 90 minutes, but we lacked that little bit of luck at the end,” said Hannover coach Daniel Stendel.
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Nico Kovac was not at all surprised by his goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky's last-minute penalty save in the DFB Cup on Wednesday night. “In Salif Sané, we looked at the right penalty taker and the right corner – the left-hand side,” revealed Eintracht Frankfurt’s coach after the 2-1 win over second-division Hannover 96 in the round of 16.
The ‘keeper saved a 96th minute penalty, and therefore maintained his side’s advantage and kept the game from going to extra time. The Finnish goalkeeper joked after the match: “I just wanted to get home on time.”
Bielefeld “an opposition to be taken seriously”
A successful night was made better when it was revealed shortly before midnight that Arminia Bielefeld had been drawn against Eintracht in the quarterfinals - one of the lowest-ranked sides in the competition. Nevertheless, the Bundesliga outfit’s management are not taking the second-division side lightly.
“If a team has made it to the quarters then they’ve earned it and are an opponent to be taken seriously,” warned board representative Fredi Bobic. The next set of DFB Cup fixtures will take place on the 28th of February and the 1st of March.
Kovac: “We won’t dream of the semi-finals too soon”
Head coach Kovac also doesn’t want to underestimate their lower-league opponents: “The danger is that we take our opposition too lightly, we won’t start dreaming of the semi-finals too soon.”
Reaching the last-four would just add to Frankfurt's impressive season so far. In the summer, they narrowly avoided relegation but now find themselves third in the Bundesliga and leading the chasing pack behind top two Bayern and RB Leipzig. “We’ve done a lot right and I'm very happy that we didn’t have to play extra time,” noted Kovac.
Penalty taker Harnik subbed off
Hannover can consider themselves unlucky to have subbed off their usual penalty taker Harnik in the 78th minute. Captain Manuel Schmiedebach said “it wasn’t decided who’d take the penalty, we don’t blame Salif. It was somehow clear he’d step up to the spot.”
The narrow defeat has however given belief to the North German club that they’ll be able to hold their own next season in the Bundesliga if they win promotion this year. “My team did well over the 90 minutes, but we lacked that little bit of luck at the end,” said Hannover coach Daniel Stendel.
