Arminia Bielefeld knocks Bayer Leverkusen out of the DFB-Pokal, reaching the final for the first time in their history

DFB-Pokal holders Bayer Leverkusen were knocked out of the semi-final of the competition by third-division side Arminia Bielefeld.

Leverkusen was Arminia Bielefeld’s fourth Bundesliga victim. They had already knocked out Union Berlin, Freiburg, and Werder Bremen from the competition.

The Werkself took the lead through Jonathan Tah’s tap-in in the 17th minute, but the advantage lasted only three minutes as Arminia Bielefeld drew level through Marius Wörl’s low strike.

In first-half stoppage time, Maximilian Großer gave Arminia Bielefeld the lead—a goal that would prove to be the match-winner as Leverkusen struggled to create clear-cut chances.

After the game, Bayer Leverkusen head coach Xabi Alonso admitted that his side didn’t play well. He stated, “Congratulations to Bielefeld for the deserved win and the place in the final in Berlin. Of course, we are disappointed. We had great hopes today, but we didn’t play well. Almost nothing worked. We lacked quality and energy as a group. The consequence is a poor result and a poor game.”

Arminia Bielefeld reached the DFB-Pokal final for the first time in their history and became only the fourth third-division side to do so.

The fans of Arminia Bielefeld were ecstatic last night.