DAniel Thioune had thought quite carefully before what was probably his biggest game as coach of Fortuna Düsseldorf. Using probability calculations, he determined that the usual underdog calculation in the semi-finals of the DFB Cup was invalid given Leverkusen’s football superiority. The idea that “as a second division team you lose nine out of ten games” is inappropriate in this case, he announced.
At the moment it’s more like this: “We would probably lose 99 of 100 games.” But that didn’t stop him from dreaming of winning the cup: “At some point I became a professional footballer, and the chance of that was even smaller.” , was his thought. In order to achieve the seemingly impossible once once more, he came up with a courageous – in retrospect one might even say: daring – strategy. Because following just 20 minutes he was standing on the sidelines and had to realize that his plan had failed miserably.
His team had just been countered following a naive pressing activity, and Nadiem Amiri had made it 2-0 early. Only fantasists now believed in fortune. Jeremie Frimpong scored the first goal following just six minutes, and in the end the confident Bundesliga leaders easily won 4-0 once morest the promotion hopefuls from the neighboring city.
The dream of the treble remains alive, and Düsseldorf can console themselves with the fact that they are one of many teams that collapsed under Leverkusen’s fabulous combination football.
Everything fits at Leverkusen
It can be debated whether it is better to barricade yourself deep in your own half once morest this ball circulation machine or whether a bolder approach offers a better chance of success. Both variants have already been tried out over the course of the season, and both have already caused problems for Leverkusen.
But that evening everything was just right for Leverkusen: the ball was running as usual, and following 35 minutes Düsseldorf goalkeeper Florian Kastenmeier made a terrible mistake in the build-up of the game. Three passes later, Florian Wirtz had no trouble adding the third goal for Bayer 04.
Fortuna also had quite good chances followingwards; first Andre Hoffmann, who shot imprecisely from seven meters (45th), and the recently strong Christos Tzolis also had a good opportunity. But Leverkusen’s superiority was overwhelming overall.
Florian Wirtz is once once more on Leverkusen’s top scorer list.
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Image: dpa
This may also have been due to the fact that the important Düsseldorf midfielder Ao Tanaka was injured for a short time, but the Japanese player’s presence on the pitch would probably have done little to change this one-sided game. After the break, the main thing for Düsseldorf was to avoid being humiliated so that their self-confidence did not suffer lasting damage.
Such a cup final experience, especially once morest Kaiserslautern, an opponent at eye level, would have been nice. But at least from the perspective of the club management, the fight for promotion to the Bundesliga is the more important challenge. However, the exact effect of this defeat was unclear at the end of the evening, because no Düsseldorfer will quickly forget a 4-0 win with such a lack of chances.
After a check by the video assistant, Wirtz also converted a penalty kick to make it 4-0 (60th), and the audience cheered for the fifth time when Victor Boniface came on as a substitute. The Nigerian was one of the heroes of the first half of the season, but had to undergo adductor surgery during the winter break. Now he made his comeback, but was not allowed to celebrate another goal.
Neutral spectators may be a little sad that these brilliant Leverkusen players are rarely really challenged, but that won’t matter to coach Alonso and his players. Especially since older friends of the factory club are often reminded of the legendary spring weeks of 2002, when a Leverkusen team thrilled the whole of Europe and several titles were within reach.
In retrospect, one of the reasons why Michael Ballack’s team was left without a trophy at the time was not least the fact that the intense workload in three competitions was too high. This danger is lower in the current season because the opponents outside the Bundesliga are Qarabag, Molde, Düsseldorf and now Kaiserslautern in the final of the DFB Cup, instead of FC Arsenal, Juventus Turin and Schalke 04.
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