Leverkusen’s Granit Xhaka celebrates with staff mates after the German cup match between Bayer 04 Leverkusen and Fortuna Duesseldorf in Leverkusen, Germany on April 3, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP
Bayer Leverkusen is on the verge of a historic league and cup double in Germany after sweeping apart native rival Fortuna Duesseldorf 4-0 in the German Cup semifinals.
Florian Wirtz scored twice on Wednesday as Xabi Alonso’s staff, which additionally leads the Bundesliga by 13 factors, marked its fortieth sport of the season unbeaten in all competitions.
Leverkusen faces off in the May 25 cup final at Berlin’s Olympiastadion towards second-tier Kaiserslautern, which ended the shock run of third-division Saarbruecken with a 2-0 win on Tuesday.
On a moist evening, Leverkusen took the lead in the seventh minute when Jeremie Frimpong seized on a free ball at the far publish and lofted a shot over goalkeeper Florian Kastenmeier.
That pressured Fortuna to open up its play in search of a aim, and Leverkusen promptly responded with a searing counterattack.
Three passes took the ball from Leverkusen’s touchline to the again of Fortuna’s internet as Amine Adli made it 2-0. Soon it was three as Kastenmeier gave the ball away to Leverkusen midfielder Robert Andrich, who arrange Wirtz to attain.
Wirtz scored one other from the penalty spot after a handball, earlier than Leverkusen celebrated the return of striker Victor Boniface, again in motion for the membership for the first time since December after he was injured whereas coaching with Nigeria forward of the Africa Cup of Nations.
Leverkusen had an additional increase final week when Alonso mentioned he would keep on as coach amid hypothesis linking him with Liverpool and Bayern Munich. Since then, Leverkusen has gained each its video games and seen Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel concede the Bundesliga title race.
Fortuna, which is pushing for promotion from the second division, was a heavy underdog forward of the sport, even earlier than its star midfielder Ao Tanaka was dominated out.
The Japan worldwide had to enter pressing surgical procedure to take away his appendix and gave his teammates a pregame thumbs-up gesture from a hospital mattress.
