On Tuesday night, third-tier Saarbrucken will look to continue their fairy tale run in the DFB Pokal as they host second-tier Kaiserslautern at the Stadion Ludwigspark for the chance to play in the competition final.
Saarbrucken the giant killersWhile the home team has experienced an underwhelming campaign in Bundesliga.3, they have become the giant killers of this season's DFB Pokal.
Their cup campaign started with a 2-1 win over Karlsruhe, which was nothing unusual. However, Saarbrucken went on an extraordinary run of victories, beating Bundesliga teams Bayern Munich, Eintracht Frankfurt and Monchengladbach.
Not only did Ruhiger Ziehl’s team beat the trio of top-flight teams, but they also scored at least two goals in each victory.
Saarbrucken achieved all the famous victories at the Stadion Ludwigspark, where they have lost just once in their last nine DFB Pokal outings. The only home cup defeat in the run came in 2020 against Bayer Leverkusen.
DFB Pokal may not be Kaiserslautern's biggest priorityWhile the home team is experiencing a mediocre league campaign, the visitors are experiencing an even worse campaign in the German second tier.
Kaiserslautern currently occupies the relegation play-off spot in the Bundesliga.2 and are only a point above the automatic relegation spots.
A weekend 3-1 home defeat against Fortuna Dusseldorf means that Freidhelm Funkel’s team has won just two of their previous eight games in all competitions.
Their recent games have at least been entertaining, with over 2.5 goals scored in four of their last five outings.
Kaiserslautern has definitely saved their best form for the DFB Pokal this season. However, their path to the semi-final was not quite as remarkable as their hosts, as they eliminated Rot-Weiss Koblenz, Koln, Nurnberg and Hertha Berlin from the competition.
They have been potent in the cup, though, scoring at least two goals in each round of the competition this season.
What am I backing?Kaiserslautern may be from a higher division, but Saarbrucken has shown that means nothing in the previous rounds. I can see this being a high-scoring encounter, so the bet I am backing is over 2.5 goals scored.
