German football is one of the best in Europe, and therefore in the whole world, and the local Cup is an interesting tournament for fans, in which uncompromising and noteworthy teams perform. It is unlikely that there will be many forecasters who were able to predict the final couple of this season at the start of the draw, but it is all the more interesting who will eventually lift the trophy over their heads. The answer will become known on May 25, after the match at the capital’s Olympiastadion.
If you want to bet on the decisive match, download the application at https://mostbet-uz-casino.com/android-apk/, but for now, it’s worth considering the pre-match layouts. There are a lot of interesting things this time – for example, the current trophy holder, RB Leipzig, was eliminated in the second round along with Bayern, but in the semi-finals, three of the four participants represented the lower divisions of the German league system. Despite the fact that in the final pair, the newly crowned champion plays against a lower-league opponent, the latter wins the German Cup more often, but the advantage is very modest – two titles against one.
Kaiserslautern: The Path To The Final
Modern Kaiserslautern does not shine even at the level of the second Bundesliga – where the team from the city of the same name fought for survival all season. But the guys were very serious about the Cup from the very beginning, not letting down anyone who got in their way. In the first round, back in August, Rot-Weiss from Koblenz, who plays in the Oberliga Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, acted as an opponent – and was very painfully beaten with a score of 0:5.
In the second round, the opponent fell several orders of magnitude higher – Cologne, although an outsider, still represents the elite. The bookmakers considered Kozlov to be the favorites, but Kaiserslautern, which played the match at its home stadium, was leading 3:0 by the 65th minute. Then the hosts stopped playing and conceded two goals, but this was not enough for the guests to save themselves.
In ⅛ it was the turn to play with Nuremberg – a team of approximately the same level and status as Kaiserslautern. However, it was the hosts who were considered the favorites, and the statistics looked one-sided in their favor. The score was not changed until the 75th minute, but then the Red Devils scored twice in a three-minute period and moved on.
In the quarterfinals, the opponent again came from Bundesliga 2, but the bookmakers considered Hertha’s chances much more preferable – approximately twice as high as those of Kaiserslautern, who went to visit Berlin. Most of the statistical indicators are in favor of the Berliners, but the score, as they say, is on the scoreboard – half a time before the end of the game, the hosts were already “burning” 0:3, and only in stoppage time, they managed to get one goal back.
In the semi-finals, Kaiserslautern confronted the main sensation of the current Cup – Saarbrücken, despite being from the third Bundesliga, personally scalped Bayern, Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Mönchengladbach! It is possible that the famous clubs simply underestimated the modest (on paper) opponent, but the Red Devils did not allow themselves to do this and took full advantage of the gift of the lot – they scored two in the second half without conceding.
Having played 5 matches against opponents from four different leagues, Kaiserslautern managed to score 15 goals while conceding only three times. The path from the lower league to the Cup final is remarkable, although it must be admitted that the Red Devils did not face truly strong opponents unless you consider Saarbrücken as such based on the results of its sensational victories over the giants.
Bayer: The Path To The Final
It is Bayer who are now champions and the main sensation of the European football season, given their unique unbeaten streak, and last summer they, like other German clubs, started fighting in the German Cup from the very beginning. The Pharmacists didn’t even notice their first opponent, beating him 0:8. FC Teutonia 05 from the Oberliga North could only hope for a less shameful score, but certainly not for reaching the next stage.
In the second round, the opponents also went to a modest fellow – Sandhausen from the third league. They snapped much more seriously, equalizing the score twice, and until the 85th minute, the outcome of the match was not determined. Then, some trouble happened with the hosts’ defense, and Leverkusen managed to bring the victory to a crushing 2:5.
In the 1st quarter, the level of Bayer’s opponents continued to rise – Paderborn already represented Bundesliga 2, and all season looked like a very strong middle team there. In the cup match, however, he was still considered a write-down outsider, but he made Leverkusen nervous by scoring one goal in the 83rd minute with the score 2:0. But the hosts almost immediately made a header and ended up with a score of 3:1.
In the February quarterfinals, the draw handed Bayer a strong Stuttgart, which would eventually finish in the Champions League zone. But by that time, the Pharmacists themselves already had an impressive undefeated streak, so the hosts continued to be considered the favorite. True, Leverkusen had a hard time – they twice found themselves in the role of catching up and scored the winning goal only in the 90th minute. However, the 3:2 score suited them quite well.
The last one to try to block Bayer’s path to the final was Dusseldorf Fortuna. The status of a contender for promotion in the Second Bundesliga did not help the guys in any way: in the first half, they conceded three goals, and in the second half, they conceded a fourth.
Having played the same 5 matches in the Cup, Bayer scored as many as 23 goals but also conceded not so few goals – 5 goals. At the same time, there were opponents of all possible levels, and the only visible trend, besides mandatory victories in regular time, was a fun game with a guaranteed total of more than 3.5.
Forecast
Both rivals had great journeys in their own way: Kaiserslautern reached the final as a relegation team, and Bayer from Leverkusen to Neverlusen. Even without looking at the odds, you can guess that the favorite is the current champion, who set a record for the longest undefeated streak this season. The pharmacists said in no uncertain terms that they want a treble so they won’t cut corners.