Leipzig’s strength of form continues, they reached the semi-finals of the DFB Cup in a commanding manner in Hannover. Despite intermittent night-time unrest.
“There were two bangs tonight,” Domenico Tedesco told the “Sky” microphone after the match, referring to a night-time firework display outside the Leipzig team hotel. Tedesco feared that RB had let this upset them after his team’s bumpy opening phase. “We had three ball losses in the first five minutes where I thought, ‘Oh, this could be difficult today’,” the RB coach said.
It didn’t get difficult for Leipzig, though, who arrived at the HDI Arena a quarter of an hour into the game on a very bumpy surface. “We then minimised the mistakes and scored the goals,” Tedesco said in the end, highly satisfied with the rest of the performance at the second-division club.
“Christo sacrifices himself “
Christo Nkunku led the way in easing Leipzig’s mood with a double strike that put RB on course early on. Nkunku was once again the match-winner with his scores of 34 and 35, but it is not only the numbers that make the 24-year-old so valuable for Leipzig. “Christo sacrifices himself, he is there in the counter-pressing, but also in the possession game,” Tedesco praised his protégé’s hard-working style of play.
On Wednesday night, however, Leipzig were very industrious as a collective and clearly superior to Hannover in terms of play. Konrad Laimer and André Silva increased the score to 4-0 in the second half after RB had survived the 96ers’ only strong phase after the restart unscathed.
“We know how awesome it is “
The commanding passage to the semi-finals, which will be drawn on 6 March and played on 19 and 20 April, brings Leipzig another step closer to the first title in the club’s history. “We know that we are now favourites. We know how cool it is to go to the Olympiastadion in Berlin. If we get there again, we can’t miss the chance to take the trophy home with us,” Kevin Kampl knows that RB have already reached the final twice, but were beaten first by Bayern (2019, 0:3) and then Dortmund (2021, 1:4).