There’s just one week to go until the DFB Pokal semi-finalists battle it out for a place in the final at the Olympiastadion, Berlin on 27th May (20:00 CEST). The first semi-final sees Borussia Mönchengladbach welcome Eintracht Frankfurt on 25th April (20:45 CEST) and a day later, FC Bayern München entertain Borussia Dortmund in a repeat of last year’s final. We take a look at how the four sides are shaping up with a week to go.
Borussia Dortmund
PERSONNEL:Marco Reus celebrated his return from injury in the third minute of when he back-heeled Dortmund into a 1-0 lead against Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday. Reus performed well until he was substituted at half-time during the 3-1 home win. Germany internationals André Schürrle and Mario Götze remain sidelined. Central defender Marc Bartra is recovering from a hand injury which came about as a result of the explosion which hit the Dortmund team bus before their Champions League quarterfinal against Monaco on 11th April. His centre-back partner Sokratis will be suspended for the DFB Pokal semi-final, however, after being sent off in the quarter final.
FORM: Dortmund got back to winning ways against Frankfurt, having lost their previous two games 3-2 to Monaco and 4-1 to Bayern.
QUOTES: Goalkeeper Roman Bürki in an interview with the Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung said this about the attack: "I subconsciously flinch and it still frightens me. The worst thing is I still can’t sleep the whole night through." On a more positive note, head coach Thomas Tuchel praised the performance at the weekend: "It was a test of an exceptional show of character by my team. I have to respect that. It was a great afternoon for us."
FC Bayern München
PERSONNEL: The Bayern injury situation is easing. Manuel Neuer and Thomas Müller played in both 2-1 defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League and the 0-0 draw at Leverkusen in the Bundesliga. It will be a race against time for Bayern to get centre-back partners Jerome Boateng and Mats Hummels fit for the semi-final. Striker Robert Lewandowski is nearing a return.
FORM: Bayern have only won one of their last four matches. That win came against their semi-final opponent Borussia Dortmund. After drawing 0-0 in Leverkusen, their focus now turns to the Champions League second leg against Real Madrid on Tuesday night.
There’s just one week to go until the DFB Pokal semi-finalists battle it out for a place in the final at the Olympiastadion, Berlin on 27th May (20:00 CEST). The first semi-final sees Borussia Mönchengladbach welcome Eintracht Frankfurt on 25th April (20:45 CEST) and a day later, FC Bayern München entertain Borussia Dortmund in a repeat of last year’s final. We take a look at how the four sides are shaping up with a week to go.
Borussia Dortmund
PERSONNEL:Marco Reus celebrated his return from injury in the third minute of when he back-heeled Dortmund into a 1-0 lead against Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday. Reus performed well until he was substituted at half-time during the 3-1 home win. Germany internationals André Schürrle and Mario Götze remain sidelined. Central defender Marc Bartra is recovering from a hand injury which came about as a result of the explosion which hit the Dortmund team bus before their Champions League quarterfinal against Monaco on 11th April. His centre-back partner Sokratis will be suspended for the DFB Pokal semi-final, however, after being sent off in the quarter final.
FORM: Dortmund got back to winning ways against Frankfurt, having lost their previous two games 3-2 to Monaco and 4-1 to Bayern.
QUOTES: Goalkeeper Roman Bürki in an interview with the Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung said this about the attack: "I subconsciously flinch and it still frightens me. The worst thing is I still can’t sleep the whole night through." On a more positive note, head coach Thomas Tuchel praised the performance at the weekend: "It was a test of an exceptional show of character by my team. I have to respect that. It was a great afternoon for us."
FC Bayern München
PERSONNEL: The Bayern injury situation is easing. Manuel Neuer and Thomas Müller played in both 2-1 defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League and the 0-0 draw at Leverkusen in the Bundesliga. It will be a race against time for Bayern to get centre-back partners Jerome Boateng and Mats Hummels fit for the semi-final. Striker Robert Lewandowski is nearing a return.
FORM: Bayern have only won one of their last four matches. That win came against their semi-final opponent Borussia Dortmund. After drawing 0-0 in Leverkusen, their focus now turns to the Champions League second leg against Real Madrid on Tuesday night.
QUOTES: Head coach Carlo Ancelotti quickly turned his attention to Madrid after the 0-0 draw in Leverkusen. "Our performance was good. We created some chances for ourselves. We have an opportunity in Madrid to progress and we can play with confidence. I’m very optimistic that Robert Lewandowski will return from injury in Madrid." Captain Philipp Lahm still believes, saying, "We have a strong team and we know that we can score away from home."
Borussia Mönchengladbach
PERSONNEL: The injury list at Borussia Mönchengladbach is very long at the moment. Along with Christoph Kramer, who will be out until the end of April with a knee ligament injury, Tony Jantschke, Fabian Johnson, Thorgan Hazard and Raffael are all sidelined.
FORM: Borussia are stagnating at the moment. After changing their head coach during the winter break, the five-time German champions underwent an upturn in fortunes at the start of 2017. Gladbach moved away from the relegation zone and towards the European places, but they’ve only managed seven points from their last six Bundesliga matches. Gladbach also crashed out of Europe at the hands of fellow Germans Schalke 04. Most recently, the Fohlenelf lost an eight goal thriller 5-3 away at Hoffenheim last weekend.
QUOTES: "That was a terrific football match", said Hecking relatively contently. "That was high intensity football from both teams. Both played open, attacking football. We want to see that in the Bundesliga." Sporting director Max Eberl is already looking ahead to the cup semi-final with Frankfurt: "The game against Frankfurt is a semi-final, a knock-out match, a home game – therefore, I hope that we throw everything we have at this game. That means on the field, from the sidelines and with the support of our fans we will try our best to reach the final, which is what we’re all dreaming of."
Eintracht Frankfurt
PERSONNEL: Frankfrut have six players currently out injured. Along with long-term abscentees Makoto Hasebe, Bamba Anderson and Yanni Regäsel, Taleb Tawatha, Slobodan Medojevic and team captain Alexander Meier are all missing for the Frankfurters.
FORM: Niko Kovac’s team are currently on a bad run. Their last win came in the quarterfinal of the DFB Pokal when they beat Arminia Bielefeld. Since then, they’ve had four defeats and three draws in the Bundesliga. Having taken only nine points in the second half of the season, Frankfurt have the second worst record in the Bundesliga this calendar year – only Darmstadt have a worse record. They have, however, scored three goals in their last two Bundesliga outings – the same number as in their nine prior to that.
QUOTES: Despite the defeat in Dortmund, Kovac is remaining upbeat: "It was a good game by both teams, even given the situation. It was a normal football match. Both teams wanted to win. We had the chances, but couldn’t find the goals. Therefore, Dortmund were deserved winners."
