As of: December 3rd, 2024 11:26 p.m
The first red card in Manuel Neuer’s long career paves the way: Bayer Leverkusen knocks Bayern Munich out of the DFB Cup in a hard-fought round of 16.
Bayer Leverkusen knocked FC Bayern Munich out of the DFB Cup with a 1-0 (0-0) win – meaning the record champions were eliminated before the semi-finals for the fifth time in a row. Substitute Nathan Tella (69′) scored the decisive goal in the round of 16 top duel on Tuesday.
The Munich team had to play outnumbered for a long time after Manuel Neuer (17th, emergency brake) was sent off, but they still kept the game balanced for a long time. “It’s bitter and of course the early red card affects the game,” said Bayern coach Vincent Kompany in the Sportschau. “But what I have to say: What the boys did today was really good in terms of character. We also had the opportunity to score goals.”
Bayern have now been waiting for a win against Leverkusen for five games, who achieved a big victory in Munich without any shine. “Even with one more man, we didn’t do it perfectly, but it was effective,” said Leverkusen’s defense chief Jonathan Tah in the first.
Manuel Neuer misjudges himself
Bayern initially made life difficult for themselves. Dayot Upamecano played a bad pass in his own penalty area in the 11th minute, allowing Florian Wirtz to take a free shot from the edge of the penalty area – the ball just missed the left post.
A few minutes later, Leverkusen’s Jonathan Tah hit an unchallenged long pass into the path of the fast Jeremie Frimpong. Neuer, in his usual style, wanted to clear well in front of the goal, but misjudged and checked Frimpong violently. Konrad Laimer was in the immediate vicinity as a defender and could probably have cleared the ball. “I called from the side, but it was already too late,” said Kompany about Neuer’s trip.
Peretz replaces Neuer, Sané has to go down
Referee Harm Osmers gave Neuer a straight red. In his 867th game in professional football, the long-time national goalkeeper was thrown off the pitch for the first time. “The expulsion is undisputed, although unfortunate,” Nagelsmann said at halftime in the first. “You’re always smarter afterwards.”
-Tah: “That’s exactly what we planned”
Tah said in the first that his long pass was part of Leverkusen’s match plan. “That’s exactly what we wanted. We wanted our outside players, in this case it was Jerry Frimpong, to keep making these runs into the depths. We didn’t want to give Bayern the feeling that they could press us well.”
Kompany took Leroy Sané off the field and brought on substitute goalkeeper Daniel Peretz. The 24-year-old Israeli made his third appearance for Bayern.
Bayern with more chances
Bayern then tried to make up for their lack of numbers by increasing their willingness to run – and were successful. Even without the injured Harry Kane, for whom Michael Olise played up front, the hosts created five good chances to score before the break. Bayer, on the other hand, struggled in the heated game, but also had opportunities through Frimpong and Florian Wirtz.
For the second half, Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso brought on Patrik Schick for Robert Andrich, having previously done without a real penalty area striker. However, Schick had to leave the field just 15 minutes later with pain in his calf muscle. Tella came in for him.
Grimaldo bedient Tella
Furthermore, the Leverkusen team didn’t know what to do with the outnumbered situation, and the spectators didn’t see any real chances to score for a long time. The high-class technicians Wirtz and Jamal Musiala also wore themselves out in duels and were only able to produce a few highlights – with Leverkusen’s Wirtz being the more noticeable of the two national players.
In the 69th minute, Leverkusen’s Alejandro Grimaldo hit a perfect cross from the left side. At the six-yard box, Tella had an unexpected amount of space between Min-jae Kim and Alphonso Davies and had no trouble taking the lead.
Bayern then tried everything, but only managed to finish clearly through Olise shortly before the final whistle. Leverkusen had no further chances, but Tella’s goal was enough to take them into the quarter-finals. The duels between the last eight teams will take place in February 2025, the draw on December 15th.
