Defending champions Bayern Munich have been drawn against fellow Bundesliga outfit Schalke 04 in the last eight of the German Cup. While Bayern’s recent record against Schalke has been fantastic, the Royal Blues do have home advantage, and will be hoping to make that count when they square off against the Bavarian giants.
Schalke are the third most successful team in Pokal history after Bayern and Werder Bremen, but last won the tournament back in 2011. Since then, they’ve made it past the quarterfinal stage only once in eight attempts. The last time Schalke beat Bayern in any kind of competition was actually en route to that famous 2011 Cup triumph, edging them 1-0 in the semis.
Three of the four semi-finals are all Bundesliga affairs. Apart from the Schalke Bayern clash, the other two see Bayer Leverkusen taking on Union Berlin and Eintracht Frankfurt hosting Werder Bremen respectively.
Bremen knocked out Borussia Dortmund in the previous round- that game saw some fantastic goals being scored, including one from the boot from Leonardo Bittencourt. BVB found the back of the net through winter signing Erling Haaland and young Gio Reyna (the son of well known USMNT international Claudio), but Werder held on to take the tie 3-2 in front of a 41,616 strong crowd.
The last semi-final sees fourth tier Saarbrucken take on Fortuna Dusseldorf. Only three fourth tier sides have reached this stage of the German Cup- Magdeburg in 2001, Holstein Kiel in 2012 and Saarbrucken this year. Die Molschder’s chances of winning the tournament are probably as low as the odds of picking up a single number successfully in a game of online roulette, but it will be fantastic if they do progress to the last four. Dusseldorf have a fine history in this competition, but much of their success came in the 70’s, and as a team currently in the bottom three of the league table, they may choose to focus their attention on Bundesliga survival rather than Cup glory.
The last eight finals have all featured either Bayern or Dortmund in it- the two before it that didn’t saw Schalke vs Duisburg in one, and Bremen vs Leverkusen in the other. Three of those teams are still alive at this stage of the competition. Eintracht of course won the tournament in 2018, with Niko Kovac orchestrating a famous triumph against his future employers. Much has changed since then, with Kovac sacked from Bayern, and Frankfurt’s famed attacking trio of Luka Jovic, Seb Haller and Ante Rebic all having left the club for greener pastures.
German Cup quarterfinal fixtures
March 3, 2020- Saarbrucken v Dusseldorf (18.30) and Schalke v Bayern (20.45)
March 4, 2020- Leverkusen v Union Berlin (18.30) and Eintracht v Werder Bremen (20.45)