Nothing again. In the fifth year since the last title, the German record cup winner has to write off Berlin well before a possible final. This hurts those involved.
Max Eberl has been the sports director of FC Bayern Munich since March 1, 2024.
IMAGO/Sven Simon
FC Bayern has already won the DFB Cup 20 times and is a regular guest at the Berlin Olympic Stadium for that reason alone. In recent years, however, things have looked completely different – a real negative trend has developed here.
A negative trend that continued on Tuesday evening in the DFB Cup round of 16 against Leverkusen (0-1) – admittedly with the special circumstance that Manuel Neuer was sent off for the first time in the 17th minute and after 864 games in his career.
In the end, however, Bayern's weak record in the DFB Cup in recent years was expanded after the second round exit in Kiel 2021 (5:6 on penalties), the second round exit in Gladbach 2021 (0:5), the quarterfinals -Out against Freiburg 2023 (1:2) and the second round elimination in Saarbrücken 2023 (1:2).
“That hurts, everyone is sitting in the dressing room feeling depressed,” Max Eberl also had to make it clear. The ex-Leipziger and ex-Gladbacher, who has been FC Bayern's sports director since March 1, 2024, added: “It's the cup, you're either out or you're further on. And we're out.”
Kimmich extremely annoyed
Eberl was also very proud of the men on the pitch. He was very impressed by how the Bayern team reacted and performed after the red card against Neuer. Even if, in the end, real opportunities were in short supply. Especially in the second period, when Leverkusen only had a chance to get into trouble again deep into stoppage time when Michael Olise's shot narrowly missed the goal.
And so the 20-time DFB Cup champion was eliminated – leaving behind a dejected Joshua Kimmich: “It annoys me extremely that the first title is gone. It's all about winning. And it just does It's a shame – no matter what the circumstances were – that we were eliminated today.”
Leroy Sané, who was sacrificed for goalkeeper Daniel Peretz after the red card, sounded the same note: “It hurts the most today, especially against an opponent like this, where we showed what we can do with one man less. We showed who we were in charge before the red card and afterwards. We showed character – for each other, for the fans. And that's exactly why it hurts so much.”
On the topic: Neuer sees red for the first time after 864 games
