Bayer Leverkusen defeats VfB Stuttgart in the DFB Cup quarter-finals

EIt's not a completely new realization that Bayer Leverkusen is having a spectacularly good season, but really big games have rarely taken place in their pretty stadium on the Rhine. Because hardly any real top teams have competed here since coach Xabi Alonso's ensemble has been playing this impressive football.

That changed on Tuesday evening: In the quarter-finals of the DFB Cup, Bayer Leverkusen finally met a similarly in-form opponent, VfB Stuttgart – which turned into a great game, which Leverkusen ended as winners in exactly the same way as this team has done so often recently won: with a late goal. After the Werkself had trailed twice, defense chief Jonathan Tah headed the winning goal in the 90th minute to make it 3-2. “It feels brutally good,” said Tah on ARD.

At VfB Stuttgart, the Japanese Hiroki Ito slipped back into the starting line-up from the Asian Cup, while Edmond Tapsoba returned to Leverkusen's three-man defense chain after his elimination with Ivory Coast from the Africa Cup. However, it quickly became apparent that these continental tournaments in the middle of the season not only cause losses in the first league games of the calendar year, but also leave their mark on the players.

Striker Guirassy is missing from Stuttgart

The striker Serhou Guirassy, ​​who had also returned to Germany, did not make it into the Stuttgart squad due to the strain, and Tapsoba made the crucial mistake before the score was 0-1. During a corner from Angelo Stiller, he lost sight of his opponent Waldemar Anton, who scored the lead for the Swabians with a header (11th minute).

In the first half hour, VfB was the more harmonious team, acted more purposefully and made fewer mistakes. In the cup, Bayer always plays substitute goalkeeper Matej Kovar, whose passes often seemed inconfident during the build-up to the game and led to ball losses. “We have to play calmly with the ball, we want to have control,” coach Alonso said before the game, and at some point his people were able to do that better.

It was a high-class game that went back and forth. A team as exciting as Stuttgart had not played in Leverkusen in recent months, but Bayer fought back. Patrik Schick even hit the goal, but was offside on the previous pass (40'). Alejandro Grimaldo challenged Stuttgart's goalkeeper with a free kick (42'), and Stuttgart had opportunities to counterattack.

But against this excellently defending opponent, a weakness that is causing problems for Leverkusen this year was not revealed for the first time: the strongest attackers of the first half of the season no longer pose as much of a goal threat as they did before Christmas, which is also the case in view of the top Bundesliga game against FC Bayern this Saturday (6.30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and on Sky) Alsonso could have thoughts.

Schick is not yet in his best form after his many injuries and missed a shot opportunity centrally in front of the goal shortly after the break (47th). Hofmann no longer plays with the brilliance of autumn and Florian Wirtz continues to do many amazing things, but they rarely have the desired impact. It was fitting that a more defensively oriented player equalized: Robert Andrich, who curled the ball into the corner from 20 meters (49').

It was one of those games that is characterized by such a high level that small mistakes are consistently punished. Andrich had had a little too much space and time for his goal, and Stuttgart's renewed lead was preceded by an inaccurate ball in the build-up to the game. Two passes later, Chris Führich scored to make it 2-1 for Stuttgart (58th). But Amine Adli, who had just been substituted, responded promptly with a counterattack goal to make it 2-2 (66th).

Now Leverkusen were more dangerous, Borja Iglesias had his chances (69th, 74th), but Stuttgart's Deniz Undav also had an opportunity (78th) before Tah scored the winning goal, which was widely celebrated. “To get a goal like that in the last minute hurts a lot,” said Stuttgart goalscorer Anton on ARD. “At this top level, little things are crucial.” Leverkusen reached the semi-finals of the DFB Cup and are clear favorites for the title. Apart from Borussia Mönchengladbach, all other Bundesliga teams have already been eliminated, and no German team is currently playing better than Bayer.

This success could also have an inspiring effect for the following game against Bayern, in which the Bundesliga table lead is at stake. However, this victory still threatens to repeat an old trauma: In 2002, Leverkusen played similarly brilliantly, were league leaders for a long time, reached the cup and Champions League finals, but in the end had no strength left and were left without a title.