Led twice at home by Stuttgart, Bayer Leverkusen won 3-2 in the quarter-finals of the German Cup, thanks to a last-minute goal from Jonathan Tah and qualified for the last four . Bayer Leverkusen therefore remains undefeated in the thirty matches played since the start of the 2023-2024 season, with 16 victories and four draws in the Bundesliga, six successes in the Europa League and now four rounds in the German Cup.
He joins two 2nd division clubs in the last four, Fortuna Düsseldorf and Kaiserslautern. The fourth ticket for the semi-finals will be played on Wednesday evening between “Little Thumb” of the 3rd division, Saarbrücken and Borussia Mönchengladbach. At the start of 2024, Xabi Alonso’s men are definitely the masters of suspense and twists and turns. In Augsburg, they waited until the fifth minute of added time to win. A week later in Leipzig, they fell behind twice, before coming back to score and snatching victory, again in added time.
The scenario in the Cup against Stuttgart, between the leader of the Bundesliga and the third, was identical. Stuttgart opened the scoring with Waldemar Anton (11th), then Leverkusen equalized with a sumptuous curling shot from Robert Andrich after the break (50th). The Swabian club took back the lead in the score through their German international Chris Führich (58th), but the Werkself equalized through Amine Adli less than ten minutes later.
As the match headed into extra time, Florian Wirtz, already a decisive passer for Adli, found Jonathan Tah at the far post in the 90th minute who deceived Alexander Nübel, to the delight of the 30,000 spectators at the BayArena in Leverkusen. Nicknamed Vizekusen or Neverkusen because it has never been German champion, Bayer Leverkusen, which has finished in second place five times, can continue to dream of a Cup-Championship double.
Installed in the leader’s chair since the 6th day, Leverkusen hosts Munich early on Saturday evening, which it is ahead of by two points (52 pts against 50), for the shock of the 21st day of the German championship. A crucial poster in the fight for the championship title, which has not escaped Bayern since the spring of 2013.
Bayer Leverkusen (1) – Stuttgart (1) 3 – 2Sankt-Pauli (2) – Fortuna Düsseldorf (2) 2 – 2 (3 – 4 t.a.b.)Hertha Berlin (2) – Kaiserslautern (2) 1 – 3
Wednesday (8:45 p.m.) Saarbrücken (3) – Borussia Mönchengladbach (1)
The draw for the semi-finals will take place on Saturday February 10
