Round of 16: Defending champions Leverkusen throw Bayern out

After goalkeeper Manuel Neuer’s bitter red debut, defending champions Bayer Leverkusen shot FC Bayern out of the DFB Cup. The Munich team, who dominated a poisonous round of 16 battle when they were outnumbered for a long time, suffered the most serious defeat in coach Vincent Kompany’s young term in office with a 0-1 (0-0). For the fifth time in a row, the record winner failed prematurely in the cup competition.

Leverkusen’s joker Nathan Tella silenced most of the 75,000 spectators with his header goal a few minutes after he came on (69th minute). In his third professional game for Bayern, Israeli national goalkeeper Daniel Peretz, who came on as a substitute for Neuer, had no chance of defending against the unchallenged header of the Bayer professional, who is only 1.73 meters tall.

Neuer’s first dismissal in his 867th game in professional football was the early starting signal in the 17th minute for a heated and exciting meeting of giants between the record winners from Munich and the double winners from the Rhine.

After a long ball from national defender Jonathan Tah, the 38-year-old Neuer stopped the onrushing Jeremie Frimpong with a body check outside the penalty area. Referee Harm Osmers showed red. There was nothing to discuss about what national coach Julian Nagelsmann called the dismissal, which was “uncontroversial, albeit unfortunate”.

Dejected, the long-time national goalkeeper ducked into the dressing room. In Neuer’s absence, things got hot-blooded not only on the pitch with a number of duels and nicks, but also between the dugouts.

Leverkusen’s master coach Xabi Alonso, who played for Bayern from 2014 to 2017, pushed his team with wild gesticulations. Bayern coach Vincent Kompany was also hot on the sidelines, but Osmars was able to calm him down a bit in the meantime. After the break, the referee from Hanover showed the short-tempered Munich sports director Christoph Freund yellow. A complaining hothead was also warned on the Leverkusen bench.

Nagelsmann praises Bayern

During the break, Nagelsmann stated on the ARD microphone that he liked Bayern’s performance when they were outnumbered “almost better than when they were evenly matched”. The injured Bayern super striker Harry Kane, who was sitting in the audience in a thick black jacket and a cap, had already started to celebrate the goal when he received headers from Kingsley Coman (34th), Leon Goretzka (43rd) and Minjae Kim (45th + 4). On the other hand, Florian Wirtz had a great chance – against Neuer (11th). The Israeli Peretz then saved with his foot against Frimpong (32nd).

Overall, the Leverkusen game was too cold for a long time with the majority. Wirtz repeatedly tried to give structure to the attacks, but also dived. His congenial DFB colleague Jamal Musiala in the Bayern jersey was wanted even more than usual in Kane’s absence. The guests’ dense defensive line disrupted the 21-year-old early and physically.

After the break, Alonso brought in the in-form striker Patrik Schick. The Czech, who had scored four goals in the last six competitive games, had to go down again less than fifteen minutes later with a calf injury. Without the top strikers, both teams were missing their target players for a long time, with Tella, who had recently been substituted, becoming one of them.

In an effort to equalize, Bayern midfielder Aleksandar Pavlovic made his comeback much earlier than expected after breaking his collarbone. The bottom line was FC Bayern’s first round of 16 defeat since December 2006.

DFB Cup, round of 16

Arminia Bielefeld – SC Freiburg 3:1 (2:0)

Jahn Regensburg – VfB Stuttgart 0:3 (0:2)

FC Bayern Munich – Bayer Leverkusen 0:1 (0:0)

Werder Bremen – Darmstadt 98 1:0 (0:0)

1. FC Cologne – Hertha BSC Wed., 6 p.m

VfL Wolfsburg – TSG Hoffenheim Mi., 18 Uhr

RB Leipzig – Eintracht Frankfurt Wed., 8:45 p.m

Karlsruher SC – FC Augsburg Wed., 8:45 p.m