Leverkusen. Bayer Leverkusen gives Fortuna Düsseldorf no chance in the semi-finals of the DFB Cup and continues to dream of a treble under Xabi Alonso.
After just an hour, the fans were intoning the classic song, accompanied by lots of pyrotechnics: “Berlin, Berlin, we’re going to Berlin.” The dream of the double, even the triple, remains alive Bayer Leverkusen! The designated German champions are over after a 4-0 (3-0) victory that was never in danger Fortuna Dusseldorf in the final of the DFB Cup and is valid there on May 25th against the 1. FC Kaiserslautern as a big favorite. The second cup triumph after 1993 is within reach in the fifth final in the club’s history. It seems like Xabi Alonso’s team will succeed at everything this season.
Not that proof of this was needed, but the Werkself provided it against Fortuna. From the start, the confident league leaders in the Bundesliga left no doubt as to who would make it to the final in Berlin’s Olympic Stadium that evening in the atmospheric BayArena. Fortuna coach Daniel Thioune’s plan to not park the bus in front of his own goal and instead want to play along backfired after just a few minutes. He changed his system and brought in another central defender, Andre Hoffmann, for Ao Tanaka, who had emergency appendectomy on Tuesday. Leverkusen used the rooms – and how.
Bayer Leverkusen mercilessly against Fortuna
After seven minutes, Alejandro Grimaldo played a pass to Granit Xhaka just outside the penalty area, who tried to bring Schick into the game. The Czech missed – much to the delight of Dutchman Jeremie Frimpong, who nailed the ball under the goal net with full force to take the lead. The fans in the stadium, who presented a big choreography in honor of the Bayer Cross before the start of the game, went crazy for the first time. It wouldn’t be the last time that evening.
Florian Wirtz (center) makes it 3-0 for Bayer Leverkusen.
© Getty Images | Lars Baron
Bayer dominated the game, the class difference between the top team in the Bundesliga and the promotion hopefuls in the second division was clearly visible. Especially since Thioune continued to rely on aggressive pressing. This allowed Fortuna to launch into a sensationally executed Bayer counterattack in the 20th minute. Edmond Tapsoba played a deep pass from his own penalty area and sent Florian Wirtz. He saw Amine Adli sprinting and sent him on the left side. The 23-year-old had a lot of time and put the ball into the far corner for Florian Kastenmeier to make it 2-0.
Bayer Leverkusen counterattacks in their own stadium
Fortuna didn’t give up, but at least they had one of the most accurate shooters in the second division in their own ranks, the Greek Christos Tziolis. But the resources were limited. Bayer had more possession of the ball, won the duels and hardly made any mistakes. The guests were different in the 35th minute. Goalkeeper Florian Kastenmeier played a catastrophic bad pass into the feet of Robert Andrich, who played directly at the free-standing Adli. He in turn used Wirtz with just one contact. With one movement, the German international let his opponent run into space and scored to make it 3-0.
Leverkusen celebrates reaching the final.
© Jan Fromme /firo Sportphoto | Jan Fromme
Fortuna had its first real chance in the 45th minute through Andre Hoffmann. Shortly afterwards, Wirtz made it clear that this was just a slip-up when he shook out the entire Düsseldorf defense and tested Kastenmaier. In the second half, Bayer played football – and after a handball by Matthias Zimmermann was awarded a penalty via video evidence, which Wirtz easily converted (60th). There was also an emotional highlight: striker Victor Boniface celebrated his comeback after a three-month injury break. From Bayer’s perspective, everything went perfectly that evening.