Eight of the DFB Pokal second round matches were played out on Tuesday with the usual cup excitement of lower league teams taking on their more glamorous opponents. So, what were the takeaways from Tuesday’s action?
1. Yussuf Poulsen- man of the ages
With no Timo Werner and no Christopher Nkunku (wrist surgery), veteran Yussuf Poulsen got a rare start and showed that is a more than able deputy with two first half goals to break the deadlock. The 28-year-old Dane scored his first Pokal goals way back in 2014 when his 91st minute equaliser took the game against Erzgebirge Aue to extra-time.
This time two goals in a three-minute spell just after the half-hour mark put Leipzig on their way to defending their trophy.
2. This must be the end for Frank Kramer
Losing to Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga on Friday night pushed Schalke coach Frank Kramer to the edge in regards his future at the club. Tuesday’s 5-1 loss to the same opponents in a dismal performance must have pushed him beyond the point of no return, if not actually over the edge.
The Königsblauen showed no reaction to Friday’s defeat and hosts Hoffenheim made easy work of dispatching their Bundesliga opponents. Speaking after the match sporting director Rouwen Schröder stated clearly his disappointment with actually saying Kramer was for the chop.
“It’s a knockout game and I didn’t see that today. We cannot be satisfied with that. We cannot present ourselves in this form. I also told the team that. Everyone has to worry, I’ll join in.”
“The end [for Kramer] is open.
Kramer himself added that, “It was undisputedly the worst performance of the season, it couldn’t have been worse. – You can’t go on like this.”
The end is near.
3. No second upset for Elversberg
After knocking out Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen in the first round, third tier SV Elversberg were looking for another top tier scalp with the visit of VfL Bochum to the Ursapharm-Arena an der Kaiserlinde.
With the game seemingly headed for extra-time and the fog descending Anthony Losilla popped up with an 85th minute goal to send the Bundesliga strugglers through against the 3. Liga leaders.
4. Darmstadt lead the way for 2. Bundesliga
2.Bundesliga leaders SV Darmstadt beating Borussia Mönchengladbach doesn’t exactly count as a giant-killing, but still, one of the favourites has been knocked out. Phillip Tietz opened the scoring in the first half, with the Foals equalising through Luca Netz three minutes into the second period.
Gladbach were then denied what looked a clear penalty minutes later, but with no VAR at this stage, the foul on Marcus Thuram was missed by referee Robert Schröder. The winner for Darmstadt came on 79 minutes via Aaron Seydel. The match official later reportedly apologised to Daniel Farke and Gladbach for the non-award of the penalty. To make matters worse there were worrying injuries to both Yann Sommer and Jonas Hofmann.
5. Close, but not close enough for Braunschweig
The distance between Braunschweig and Wolfsburg is less than 30 km and the distance between the two in this second-round tie was one goal as the Bundesliga side triumphed in the Niedersachsen derby.
Goals from Mattias Svanberg and Jakub Kaminski came either side of Maurice Multhaup’s equaliser.
