Third-tier Arminia Bielefeld stunned holders Bayer Leverkusen 2-1 on Tuesday, coming from a goal down to reach the German Cup final.
Bielefeld, who have eliminated four Bundesliga teams in consecutive rounds in the competition, became the fourth third-tier side to reach the German Cup final.
“I am so proud of the team,” Bielefeld coach Michel Kniat said. “The whole region is feeling this. No one will be sleeping tonight.
“We defended with a lot of passion and that was the key. We worked extremely hard. It was great to go into the break with the lead and in the second half we kept up the pressure for what was a deserved win,” he added.
Leverkusen, who had never lost a German Cup match under coach Xabi Alonso, were made to work hard before taking the lead in the 17th minute with Jonathan Tah’s tap-in at the far post from a corner.
Their joy only lasted three minutes with Marius Woerl beating keeper Lukas Hradecky with a low drive to draw the hosts level.
Hradecky pulled off a spectacular save in the 26th when he blocked Sarenren Bazee’s point-blank effort but Bielefeld’s comeback was complete on the stroke of halftime with a close-range volley from Maximilian Grosser.
The hosts were relentless, keeping up the pressure and carving out several chances after the break before Leverkusen’s Patrik Schick hit the post with an 81st-minute header.
Leverkusen, who won the league and Cup double without defeat last season, are in second place in the Bundesliga, six points behind leaders Bayern Munich, with seven league games remaining.
“It is hard to say what went wrong so shortly after the game but when we say that Bielefeld deserved to reach the final then that means we did a lot of things wrong,” said Leverkusen midfielder Robert Andrich.
“We were missing all our usual strengths,” he added. “We could not have an impact up front and we made far too many mistakes at the back. It was clearly our worst game this season. We have to accept that we messed it up.”
VfB Stuttgart face RB Leipzig on Wednesday in the other semifinal.
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