Bayer Leverkusen vs Elversberg

BayArena is the venue as Bayer Leverkusen and Elversberg lock horns in a ‘David vs Goliath’ DFB-Pokal clash.

Bayern Leverkusen will be out to atone for a stomach-wrenching 2-2 draw at Werder Bremen last weekend, which saw them lose further ground on Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich despite extending their unbeaten run in all competitions to nine games (W5, D4). However, as three of those four draws came in their last four outings, manager Xabi Alonso should know better than taking anything for granted. Adding to this sentiment, ‘Die Werkself’ squeezed past third-tier Carl-Zeiss Jena in the first DFB-Pokal round 1-0, after which they’ve failed to keep a clean sheet in seven consecutive domestic games, conceding 2+ goals on four occasions.

In the meantime, Elversberg put lower-league Hildesheim to the sword in the opening DFB-Pokal round, picking up a 7-0 victory to set up their second cup tie against Leverkusen in two years. They shockingly got the better of the reigning Bundesliga champions in July 2022 (4-3), a scoreline they almost replicated in a goal-glutted 4-2 home win against Hamburger SV at the weekend. That result extended their unbeaten run in Germany’s second tier to four games (W3, D1), setting them up nicely for this trip. However, Horst Steffen’s men have failed to win on three of their last four competitive travels (D2, L1) despite conceding under 1.5 goals three times.+