DFB Pokal
On Wednesday night, Bayer Leverkusen hosts Fortuna Dusseldorf at the BayArena in the second of the DFB Pokal semi-finals.
Bayer rescue late win over HoffenheimDie Werkself moved closer to winning the Bundesliga title for the first time by recording a last-gasp 2-1 home victory over Hoffenheim.
The win means that Bayer has recorded four straight wins in all competitions, scoring at least two goals in each victory.
Their excellent Bundesliga campaign has overshadowed their progress in the DFB Pokal. However, Xabi Alonso’s team is the favourites to win both domestic trophies while also remaining in the Europa League.
Bayer has had a pretty comfortable run to the last four of the DFB Pokal, as they have defeated Teutonia Ottensen, Sandhausen, Paderborn and Stuttgart in this season’s competition.
Leverkusen have also been prolific lately in the German Cup, scoring at least two goals in their last seven outings.
Fortuna is still chasing automatic promotionLike Bayer, the DFB Pokal may not be the visitor’s main priority going into the final stretch of the German domestic campaign.
Dusseldorf is currently in third place in the Bundesliga.2, occupying the relegation/promotion play-off berth. However, they are just six points outside the automatic promotion berths.
Daniel Thioune’s team heads into this encounter on the back of three straight victories, so they will be in high spirits.
Their DFB Pokal form has also been decent this season, although they have won just two of their four German Cup games over 90 minutes against Illertissen and Magdeburg.
They needed extra time to see off Unterhaching and penalty kicks to defeat St. Pauli in the last round.
Their games in the cup have been high-scoring this season, as all four games have produced over 2.5 goals.
What am I backing?There is very little value in the home win, as Bayer are on such a good run of late. However, I believe there will be goals in this encounter, so the bet I am backing is over 2.5 goals scored.
