German third-division football team Arminia Bielefeld have reached the final of the German Cup for the first ever time after sensationally beating reigning Bundesliga champions and cup holders Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday.
After Leverkusen took the lead through German international Jonathan Tah, Bielefeld came back and turned the game around with goals from Marius Wörl and Maximilian Grosser.
Bielefeld, from the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia, are only the fourth ever club to reach the final of the German Cup while playing in the third tier, a division in which they currently sit fourth.
The feat was previously accomplished by Union Berlin, Energie Cottbus and, bizarrely, Hertha Berlin’s reserve team, the latter in 1993.
“I didn’t see a two-league difference between the teams today,” said former German international Bastian Schweinsteiger in his role as pundit for broadcaster ARD. “In fact, I didn’t even see a single league difference.”
Leverkusen, on the other hand, won the double of Bundesliga and German Cup last season, coached by Liverpool and Real Madrid legend Xabi Alonso.
“That was our worst game of the season by far, in our most important game so far,” said Leverkusen midfielder Robert Andrich. “We were second to every ball and we have admit we completely messed up.”
How did Arminia Bielefeld reach the final?
Bielefeld’s route to the final has been anything but easy. After beating second-division side Hannover 96 in the first round, they then knocked out Bundesliga sides Union Berlin, SC Freiburg and Werder Bremen before eliminating Leverkusen, too – the first ever time that a third-division side has beaten four top-flight teams in a row.
“I can’t believe what’s happened here tonight against one of the best teams in Germany,” said Arminia goalscorer Wörl. “But we knew that, after beating three other Bundesliga teams, we could do it, and I think we deserved it.”
In the final, Bielefeld will face either VfB Stuttgart or RB Leipzig, who finished second and fourth in last season’s Bundesliga respectively and meet in the second semifinal on Wednesday evening.
Edited by John Silk
