1. FC Saarbrücken’s are through to the next round of the Pokal in sensational fashion. The giant-killers, who also claimed the scalps of record Pokal winner FC Bayern and last year’s finalist Eintracht Frankfurt in previous rounds, defeated another Bundesliga side 2-1 in Borussia Mönchengladbach, and will now take on second-tier side 1. FC Kaiserslautern in the semi-finals on Tuesday, 2nd April (20:45 CEST). It is another semi-final for Saarbrücken, who previously reached that stage in 2019/20. For the first time, just one Bundesliga side remains in the final four of the DFB-Pokal.
Early goals for both teams
Five weeks since the game was rescheduled due to an unplayable pitch in Saarbrücken, the rain was again relentless, though the newly laid pitch at the Ludwigsparkstadion was much more stable, at least to start with. The hosts made a strong and confident start in front of 15,903 spectators. The favourites however took the lead with their first attack, as Robin Hack steered Franck Honorat’s pull-back home from around 13 yards out (8’). But anyone who thought that this would be the end of Saarbrücken’s Pokal dream was proven wrong when the third-tier side equalised just three minutes later through Amine Naifi’s strike from the edge of the penalty area.
The game then developed into something of an end-to-end encounter, with the Bundesliga side creating the better chances. Firstly, Rocco Reitz was denied by a challenge at the last when one-on-one with FCS goalkeeper Tim Schreiber (14’), before Lukas Boeder heroically cleared a powerful effort from Honorat off the line (18’).
Both teams quietened down somewhat after the frantic opening stages. The ‘Foals’ continued to control the game and have far more possession, but the Saarbrücken defence kept the Gladbach forward line quieter and quieter as the game went on, and conceded fewer and fewer chances.
Saarbrücken land killer blow
Gladbach continued to have control of the game in the second half. The prolonged rainfall made the pitch more and more saturated, which provided the perfect setting for a hard-fought encounter, and Saarbrücken, who sat deep, but defended passionately, were very much up for the fight.
As the second half went on, Saarbrücken rarely managed to get out and were seemingly hanging on for extra time. It was only in the final phases that Saarbrücken went back on the attack in the hope of landing a killer blow – and they got their reward in sensational fashion.
