Wednesday night’s DFB-Pokal quarterfinal ties saw RB Leipzig, Hamburger SV and SC Freiburg join Union Berlin in the next round, completing the line-up for April’s semi-finals. Of this season’s final four, only HSV have ever won the competition before, last lifting the coveted golden trophy in 1987. The draw for the semis takes place this Sunday evening from 19:15 CET.
Nkunku at the double for Leipzig
Bundesliga side RB Leipzig justified their favourites tag in their quarterfinal against second-tier Hannover 96, romping to a 4-0 victory. Christopher Nkunku’s brace in the first half put RBL in the driving seat early on, before further goals from Konrad Laimer and then André Silva wrapped up a comfortable victory for the Red Bulls.
The opening exchanges at the HDI-Arena were fairly even, but the momentum of the game changed with Leipzig’s opener in the 17th minute. Dani Olmo drove forward and fed Nkunku, who dribbled his way through the defence and fired low past the goalkeeper – the first time Hannover had conceded in this season’s competition.
The Frenchman was at the heart of all things good for RBL, and it was no surprise that he was the man to double the lead just five minutes later, knocking the ball past the on-rushing Ron-Robert Zieler, faking a shot to take the chasing Marcel Franke out of play and then tapping the ball into the empty net (22’).
Hannover didn’t have much to offer against Leipzig’s strong defence, and often left themselves open to counterattacks, one of which led to goal number three. Laimer and Silva combined neatly to put the former in one-on-one, where he made no mistake (67’). A little bit of fortune provided Leipzig’s fourth in the 73rd minute, with Angelino’s deflected cross looping over Zieler before being poked over the line by the waiting Silva.
Shootout specialists HSV
Hamburger SV forced their tie against fellow Bundesliga 2 outfit Karlsruher SC into extra time late on, with Robert Glatzel completing his brace to make it 2-2 following goals by Philip Heise and Philipp Hofmann. Karlsruhe missed their last three spot-kicks in the shootout, meaning HSV have now won three straight ties on penalties.
There were good chances for both sides in the first half, but it took until the 39th minute for the opening goal to arrive. Heise curled a brilliant free-kick around the wall to leave Daniel Heuer Fernandes rooted to the spot and put KSC 1-0 ahead at the break.
The visitors doubled their advantage just five minutes after the restart too, with Hofmann poking home a rebound (50’). The cushion was reduced 97 seconds later though when Glatzel headed in from a deep cross (52’). Hamburg pushed hard in search of an equaliser and had a great chance from a penalty which saw Christoph Kobald sent off, but Marius Gersbeck saved well from Sonny Kittel (71’). The equaliser eventually did arrive though, again with Glatzel the saviour, turning home a drilled cross in stoppage time (90+1’).
After an uneventful period of extra time, penalties loomed, although HSV went into them off the back of shootout wins in the previous two rounds. They were first to miss, however, with Gersbeck following up his in-game save to deny Sebastian Schonlau. Heuer Fernandes brought Hamburg back on level terms by keeping out Marvin Wanitzek, and followed it up with a low stop against Ricardo Van Rhijn to put the hosts in charge. KSC then missed their third straight penalty when Daniel O’Shaughnessy hit the post, sending Hamburg through to the semi-finals.
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Wednesday night’s DFB-Pokal quarterfinal ties saw RB Leipzig, Hamburger SV and SC Freiburg join Union Berlin in the next round, completing the line-up for April’s semi-finals. Of this season’s final four, only HSV have ever won the competition before, last lifting the coveted golden trophy in 1987. The draw for the semis takes place this Sunday evening from 19:15 CET.
Nkunku at the double for Leipzig
Bundesliga side RB Leipzig justified their favourites tag in their quarterfinal against second-tier Hannover 96, romping to a 4-0 victory. Christopher Nkunku’s brace in the first half put RBL in the driving seat early on, before further goals from Konrad Laimer and then André Silva wrapped up a comfortable victory for the Red Bulls.
The opening exchanges at the HDI-Arena were fairly even, but the momentum of the game changed with Leipzig’s opener in the 17th minute. Dani Olmo drove forward and fed Nkunku, who dribbled his way through the defence and fired low past the goalkeeper – the first time Hannover had conceded in this season’s competition.
The Frenchman was at the heart of all things good for RBL, and it was no surprise that he was the man to double the lead just five minutes later, knocking the ball past the on-rushing Ron-Robert Zieler, faking a shot to take the chasing Marcel Franke out of play and then tapping the ball into the empty net (22’).
Hannover didn’t have much to offer against Leipzig’s strong defence, and often left themselves open to counterattacks, one of which led to goal number three. Laimer and Silva combined neatly to put the former in one-on-one, where he made no mistake (67’). A little bit of fortune provided Leipzig’s fourth in the 73rd minute, with Angelino’s deflected cross looping over Zieler before being poked over the line by the waiting Silva.
Shootout specialists HSV
Hamburger SV forced their tie against fellow Bundesliga 2 outfit Karlsruher SC into extra time late on, with Robert Glatzel completing his brace to make it 2-2 following goals by Philip Heise and Philipp Hofmann. Karlsruhe missed their last three spot-kicks in the shootout, meaning HSV have now won three straight ties on penalties.
There were good chances for both sides in the first half, but it took until the 39th minute for the opening goal to arrive. Heise curled a brilliant free-kick around the wall to leave Daniel Heuer Fernandes rooted to the spot and put KSC 1-0 ahead at the break.
The visitors doubled their advantage just five minutes after the restart too, with Hofmann poking home a rebound (50’). The cushion was reduced 97 seconds later though when Glatzel headed in from a deep cross (52’). Hamburg pushed hard in search of an equaliser and had a great chance from a penalty which saw Christoph Kobald sent off, but Marius Gersbeck saved well from Sonny Kittel (71’). The equaliser eventually did arrive though, again with Glatzel the saviour, turning home a drilled cross in stoppage time (90+1’).
After an uneventful period of extra time, penalties loomed, although HSV went into them off the back of shootout wins in the previous two rounds. They were first to miss, however, with Gersbeck following up his in-game save to deny Sebastian Schonlau. Heuer Fernandes brought Hamburg back on level terms by keeping out Marvin Wanitzek, and followed it up with a low stop against Ricardo Van Rhijn to put the hosts in charge. KSC then missed their third straight penalty when Daniel O’Shaughnessy hit the post, sending Hamburg through to the semi-finals.
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