Leverkusen celebrated its solely earlier cup triumph in 1993. Granit Xhaka (17′) turned the match winner within the sold-out Berlin Olympic Stadium.
The sport remained thrilling in entrance of 74,322 spectators till the tip, not least as a result of Leverkusen’s Odilon Kossounou was proven a second yellow card within the forty fourth minute. The favorites have been in a position to cope properly with the 3-0 defeat within the Europa League remaining on Wednesday, which ended a sequence of 51 unbeaten aggressive matches. On the celebrations on Sunday in Leverkusen, two objects of want can now be introduced to the 1000’s of followers who will certainly attend.
Midfield chief Xhaka offered the large spotlight earlier than the break, his left-footed shot from round 20 meters landed proper within the nook. Shortly earlier than the half-time whistle, Kossouno was rightly despatched off with a yellow card after an unlucky kick in opposition to Boris Tomiak. This fueled the underdog’s hopes of a shock they usually virtually equalized within the 62nd minute. Lukas Hradecky prevented this with a superb save from a shot by “joker” Ragnar Ache (62nd).
In any other case, a second aim for the champions was within the air. Jeremie Frimpong went previous the goalie, however failed to complete and his go discovered no taker. Instantly afterwards, Amine Adli was near scoring (each within the seventy fifth minute). This meant that coach Xabi Alonso’s workforce needed to wait till the ultimate whistle. Nevertheless, Kaiserslautern solely received the DFB Cup in 1990 and 1996. They misplaced a remaining for the sixth time. Coach Friedhelm Funkel due to this fact had no sense of accomplishment as he left, however the membership’s sturdy cup season will nonetheless be remembered for a very long time.
The Kaiserslautern followers’ sturdy use of pyrotechnics will even be remembered. They’d already set off fireworks within the first half, and shortly after the beginning of the second half the sport was even interrupted for a couple of minutes due to this.
