Courtesy: Google
In what is a massive upset for the defending champions of the competition, Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen have been knocked out of the DFB Pokal semi-final by third division side Arminia Bielefeld. In a single leg tie at the Bielefelder Alm; Arminia’s home ground, the hosts stunned the visitors with a 2-1 victory to progress to their first-ever DFB Pokal final in club history. Leverkusen’s Jonathan Tah opened the scoring for the visitors after a frustrating start to the game and scored a goal from the corner kick at the 17th minute. However, Arminia responded immediately with Marius Worl scoring a brilliant goal in the 20th minute.
With the goal he took his goal tally in the competition to three and he remains to be the player with the most goal contributions in the competition with 6G/A. Arminia completed their comeback just before the half-time whistle with Maximillian scoring the decisive goal for his team. Then the second half was largely characterized by low scoring opportunities for both the teams as the hosts looked to run down the clock with minimal risks after taking the lead.
Is Xabi Alonso a one-season wonder?
The loss comes as a big blow for Leverkusen who recently were knocked out of the Champions League by league rivals Bayern Munich. This loss dampens their chances of winning a piece of silverware in this season as they are currently trailing Bayern Munich by six points in the Bundesliga table. Although there are still a few games left to finish the season and six points isn’t a big lead, it will be interesting to see whether Leverkusen can challenge Bayern for the title.
The loss also opens up questions about Xabi Alonso’s abilities as some fans have started calling the Spanish manager a ‘one-season wonder’. Alonso had a wonderful debut season managing Leverkusen as he went on to win the Bundesliga and the DFB Pokal title last year. But this hasn’t been the case this year as he has been knocked out of two cup competitions already and is trailing in the league title race as well.
