Bayer Leverkusen vs Stuttgart

A place in the DFB-Pokal semi-finals is on the line as Bayer Leverkusen and Stuttgart go head-to-head in a mouth-watering quarter-final tie at BayArena.

Bayer Leverkusen’s dream Bundesliga campaign continued with a routine 2-0 win at relegation-threatened Darmstadt at the weekend, extending their near-flawless 2023/24 to 29 unbeaten matches across all competitions. Only three games short of equalling Bayern Munich’s outright Bundesliga record for the longest undefeated streak in the competition’s history, Xabi Alonso’s men report for DFB-Pokal duties, seeking their first competitive win against Stuttgart since November 2022 (D2 since). Achieving that feat would bring them within two victories of lifting their first cup title since 1992/93. Since it’s also a dress rehearsal for their upcoming Bundesliga top-table six-pointer against the Munich outfit, ‘Die Werkself’ will be out to post their first home win of 2024 after a scoreless league draw against Borussia Monchengladbach and set themselves up nicely for a mouth-watering contest next weekend.

On the other hand, Stuttgart dispatched Borussia Dortmund 2-0 in the previous DFB-Pokal tie, coming within striking distance of their first cup trophy since 1996/97. Despite taking the field as pre-match outsiders, ‘Die Schwaben’ won’t shy away from the challenge after piecing together back-to-back Bundesliga wins in the build-up to this fixture, including a 3-1 demolition of Freiburg at the weekend. However, Sebastian Hoeness’ side can’t afford to get complacent, considering that win snapped their woeful three-match losing league run on hostile turf, with two of those three defeats seeing them concede precisely three goals. Furthermore, since a narrow 1-0 triumph in April 2018, the visitors have lost their last five competitive visits to BayArena, including a 2-1 reverse in this competition in February 2020.