In the six cup ties that have been played between Bayer Leverkusen and SV Werder Bremen to this point, the Green-Whites have prevailed in all of them. However, is this the year that the Werkself buck that trend and make it through to the semifinals of the competition? The second placed team in the Bundesliga are the favourites to do so when the game takes place on Tuesday 6th February at 20:45 CET.
Leverkusen have made it to the quarterfinals of the competition in every year from 2014 to 2016, but have also been knocked out each time. In 2014, they lost 1-0 to 1. FC Kaiserslautern after extra time. In 2015, they lost to Bayern 5-3 on penalties after the game ended goalless in regular time. And in 2016, they lost to this year’s opponents Bremen 3-1. The last time Bayer 04 made it to the semifinal stage was back in 2009, when they made it through to the final, before losing to Bremen yet again 1-0. World Cup winner Mesut Özil got the winner to give his side their most recent DFB-Pokal title.
Herrlich: “We have a huge chance to make it to the semifinals”
If there was any time for Leverkusen to reverse this negative trend and finally beat Bremen for the first time in the cup and to reach the last four again, this would be it. The current form of Heiko Herrlich’s side speaks for itself, after they successfully defended their second place in the Bundesliga table this weekend. They’ll also be playing at home in the BayArena, where they haven’t lost this season apart from to the league leaders, Bayern Munich.
Werder Bremen are coming off a good result themselves, however, after they beat Schalke 2-1 to earn only their second away win of the season and move out of the relegation zone for the first time this season. Despite their underwhelming performance in the league though, Bremen will be anything but a walkover in the cup. In this exact fixture two years ago, they came back from a 1-0 deficit against the Werkself to punch their tickets for the semifinals. They’ve also knocked out two top flight sides from the competition this year, namely SC Freiburg and TSG Hoffenheim.
“It’s going to be a tough task, but it’s a huge chance at the same time,” said Heiko Herrlich after the quarterfinal draw. “Just like in the league, Werder will ask a lot of us to beat them. With the home fans behind us though, we have a huge chance to make it to the semifinals. We want to make the most of it.”
In the six cup ties that have been played between Bayer Leverkusen and SV Werder Bremen to this point, the Green-Whites have prevailed in all of them. However, is this the year that the Werkself buck that trend and make it through to the semifinals of the competition? The second placed team in the Bundesliga are the favourites to do so when the game takes place on Tuesday 6th February at 20:45 CET.
Leverkusen have made it to the quarterfinals of the competition in every year from 2014 to 2016, but have also been knocked out each time. In 2014, they lost 1-0 to 1. FC Kaiserslautern after extra time. In 2015, they lost to Bayern 5-3 on penalties after the game ended goalless in regular time. And in 2016, they lost to this year’s opponents Bremen 3-1. The last time Bayer 04 made it to the semifinal stage was back in 2009, when they made it through to the final, before losing to Bremen yet again 1-0. World Cup winner Mesut Özil got the winner to give his side their most recent DFB-Pokal title.
Herrlich: “We have a huge chance to make it to the semifinals”
If there was any time for Leverkusen to reverse this negative trend and finally beat Bremen for the first time in the cup and to reach the last four again, this would be it. The current form of Heiko Herrlich’s side speaks for itself, after they successfully defended their second place in the Bundesliga table this weekend. They’ll also be playing at home in the BayArena, where they haven’t lost this season apart from to the league leaders, Bayern Munich.
Werder Bremen are coming off a good result themselves, however, after they beat Schalke 2-1 to earn only their second away win of the season and move out of the relegation zone for the first time this season. Despite their underwhelming performance in the league though, Bremen will be anything but a walkover in the cup. In this exact fixture two years ago, they came back from a 1-0 deficit against the Werkself to punch their tickets for the semifinals. They’ve also knocked out two top flight sides from the competition this year, namely SC Freiburg and TSG Hoffenheim.
“It’s going to be a tough task, but it’s a huge chance at the same time,” said Heiko Herrlich after the quarterfinal draw. “Just like in the league, Werder will ask a lot of us to beat them. With the home fans behind us though, we have a huge chance to make it to the semifinals. We want to make the most of it.”
