3-0 against St. Pauli - Werkself through to Pokal semi-finals for third time in a row

Head coach Kasper Hjulmand made three changes to his team line-up compared to with the 3-1 league win at Eintracht Frankfurt at the weekend: Lucas Vázquez was on the right flank in place of Arthur, Ezequiel Fernández was replaced in the centre by Exequiel Palacios and Patrik Schick played up front in place of Christian Kofane. The "great motivation" in the Pokal that Hjulmand talked about at the pre-match press conference was immediately evident in the Werkself: From the kick-off, the Black and Re

St. Pauli brave- impressive Terrier strike

After a quarter of an hour, the Werkself broke through the well-organised Kiezkicker defence for the first time. A Vázquez cross found Martin Terrier but his header was blocked. Schick came even closer to scoring just a minute later when he beat the Pauli goalkeeper Ben Voll only to see his shot cleared off the line by defender Karol Mets. The visitors actually created more chances in the following minutes, but the Werkself were clinical: The lively Terrier won the ball on the edge of the penalty area and fired it into the bottom left-hand corner (32'). The Kiezkickers almost struck back before the break. However, Martijn Kaars put the ball over the bar (39') and Bayer 04 went into the half-time break with the lead.

Schick and Hofmann seal semi-final spot

The visitors remained courageous after the break and had their first good chance to score in the person of substitute Ricky-Jade Jones (49'). At the other end, Tomoya Ando intervened just before Schick was about to shoot (59'). A short time later, however, the Czechia international took his chance from a cross by Aleix Garcia scoring with a volley to make it 2-0 (63'). Leverkusen's second goal had an effect on the Kiezkickers, who now gave the Werkself more space and they were lucky in the 75th minute that substitute Jonas Hofmann only hit the post. But he also had another chance in added time and this time his powerful finish was perfect (90+3’). Given Leverkusen's focussed second half, the 3-0 win was well deserved and gave Hjulmand's side their third DFB Pokal semi-final in a row.

coming up: Mönchengladbach then St. Pauli again

Next Saturday, 7 February, the Werkself continue their Bundesliga campaign at Borussia Mönchengladbach with the kick-off at 15:30 CET. One week later, on 14 February, FC St. Pauli visit the BayArena once again. The kick-off for the Bundesliga match on Carnival Saturday is also at 15:30 CET.

Match stats:

Bayer 04: Blaswich - Quansah, Andrich, Tapsoba - Vázquez (Arthur 57’), Palacios (Fernández 57’), Garcia (Badé 88’), Grimaldo - Tillman, Terrier (Hofmann 65’) - Schick (Kofane 88’)

St. Pauli: Voll - Ando, Mets, Oppie (Saliakas 46’) - Sands, Rasmussen (Ceesay 88’) - Fujita (Irvine 68’), Sinani, Pyrka - Kaars, Pereira Lage (Jones 46’, Hara 80’)

Goals: 1-0 Terrier (32'), 2-0 Schick (63'), 3-0 Hofmann (90+2’)

Yellow cards: Garcia - Fujita, Ando

Referee: Florian Badstübner (Nuremberg)

Attendance: 30,210 (sold out) at the BayArena