The last 16 tie between Regionalliga side Kickers Offenbach and Borussia Mönchengladbach is the final David vs. Goliath clash of the round. For one of the players, the game means more than just qualifying for the quarter-finals.
Cup upset or withdrawal of love: André Hahn is in a lose-lose situation. “He’s conscious that he’ll have to spend at least a night sleeping on the sofa,” said Ragna, girlfriend of the Borussia Mönchengladbach player. Ragna comes from Offenbach and is a passionate fan of the Regionalliga side, who will be looking to cause an upset on Wednesday. There’ll be trouble if Hahn prevents that.
“I know where I’m from,” said Hahn ahead of his return to Bieberer Berg (20:30 CET). “I’m hoping for a good reception. I have a lot to thank Kickers Offenbach for as playing there allowed me to make that step into the Bundesliga. I had a really great and very formative time in Offenbach.”
Half a year after Hahn moved to FC Augsburg (winter break of 2012/13), which really kick started the 24-year-old’s career, the club, that were at the time in the third division, fell into chaos. A combination of a leadership crisis, a withdrawal of their license and automatic relegation meant the DFB Cup winners from 1970 had to start afresh.
Crunch meeting in the cup to kick start the year
Manager Rico Schmitt and his side lead the Regionalliga southwest with 49 points, whilst in the cup they caused upsets against both FC Ingolstadt and Karlsruher SC. “It would be amazing if we won,” said Schmidt to the Offenbach-Post. “If we lose then it’s not the end of the world. It’s a good test ahead of the league restarting on Sunday when we play Freiburg II.” Their game against FC Homburg on Friday was called off so the crunch meeting in the cup will kick start OFC’s year.
“The fact that we haven’t played a competitive game since December can’t be a disadvantage,” said defender Stefano Meier. “We’ll give our all and we’ll take into the game everything we’ve worked on during our preparation.” For Gladbach, who were knocked out of the Europa League last week, it should be a tough game at Bieberer Berg.
“It’s always hard for opposing teams to play there,” said Hahn, who scored 5 goals in 44 appearances for Offenbach and met his girlfriend there. “There are long rows of standing in the visitors end. You don’t see stands like that very often in football anymore. I had some good experiences with Kickers in the cup and we always got far. Therefore I know how hard it is to play there in the cup.”
