Germany third-tier side Arminia Bielefeld has reached the DFB Pokal Cup final following their 2-1 win over holders Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday night.
Bielefeld had knocked out Bundesliga teams Union Berlin (2-0), Freiburg (3-1), and Werder Bremen (2-1) in previous rounds to reach the last four, but there was a feeling that Leverkusen wouldn’t allow such a setback on Tuesday night.
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Jonathan Tah volleyed in an early opener from Amine Adli’s flick-on at a corner for Leverkuse,n and with everything going on as planned, Bielefeld had other ideas as they equalised shortly afterwards when Marius Wörl reacted quickest to a loose ball inside the Leverkusen penalty area and curled a shot past Lukáš Hrádecký.
Encouraged by that goal and roared on by their home crowd, Bielefeld did go into the break with a narrow advantage when Maximilian Großer volleyed in a devilish Louis Oppie free-kick on the stroke of half-time.
Alonso introduced Victor Boniface early in the second half as Leverkusen sought a way back into the game, but Bielefeld refused to buckle. They should even have gone two goals clear when Oppie found space on the left-hand byline and cut the ball back for Joel Grodowski, but he scuffed his shot from close to the penalty spot and the ball bobbled wide.
Boniface had a header clawed away by goalkeeper Jonas Kerksen and Patrik Schick grazed the outside of the post with a header from Jeremie Frimpong’s pinpoint cross. That was as good as it got for Alonso’s men, who pushed for a trademark late goal but were unable to find it against their dogged hosts, who deservedly secured a first-ever trip to the DFB Cup final.
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