Düsseldorf ended an impressive March with a 3-1 victory away at Kaiserslautern at the weekend, meaning they’ve earned 10 of a possible 12 points from the last four weeks and have now won three on the spin. Since a 2-2 draw at Hannover, Fortuna have beaten Hamburg 2-0 at home and won 4-0 at Osnabrück prior to the most recent success at Lautern. “It was a mature display from my team,” praised head coach Daniel Thioune, whose side calmly came back from a goal down at the Fritz-Walter-Stadion. Once again, it was Christos Tzolis who made the difference for Düsseldorf with a brace, either side of Shinta Appelkamp putting the visitors ahead, during an eight-minute salvo that produced the comeback – and not for the first time this season. Düsseldorf have proven that Bayer 04 aren’t the only team capable of frequent late turnarounds. “Despite going behind, we remained calm and stuck to our plan,” said midfielder Yannik Engelhardt afterwards. “We just have that understanding at the moment.”
Fortuna are now on a seven-game unbeaten run and have snatched third place in the second division with seven matches to go. Their DFB Cup campaign has seen them drawn away from home in every round, beginning with a trip to fourth-tier Illertissen (3-1). Düsseldorf then won a thriller against third-division Unterhaching in extra-time (6-3) before a 2-1 victory at Magdeburg. Thioune’s men again provided drama in the quarter-final as they twice came from behind to level at Bundesliga 2 leaders St. Pauli, ultimately prevailing on penalties to set up this semi-final in Leverkusen. “We have a big game ahead of us at the BayArena on Wednesday, which everyone is looking forward to,” said Tzolis. “We want to enjoy the day, play our game and not hide away from Leverkusen.”
Fortune hasn’t always been on Düsseldorf’s side this season in terms of injuries. Coach Thioune will again be missing some players on Wednesday, such as defender Nicolas Gavory and midfielder Daniel Bunk. Marcel Sobottka, who was ill for the Kaiserslautern game, is also a doubt, as is Takashi Uchino. The Japanese full-back had to go off at the weekend after a knock to his head. Emmanuel Iyoha replaced him, having previously been out with a stomach muscle injury. He could also be involved in Leverkusen. Ahead of goalkeeper Florian Kastenmeier, Thioune’s options at centre-back include Tim Oberdorf, Düsseldorf native Jamil Siebert, Jordy de Wijs, captain Andre Hoffmann and Joshua Quarshie. Matthias Zimmermann has been used mostly on the right. Engelhardt and Ao Tanaka are the main men in central midfield, while there are plenty of quality options in attack.
That is because Fortuna boast the best attack in Bundesliga 2 with 59 goals. Tzolis leads the way in terms of goals (17, level with Hertha Berlin’s Haris Tabakovic) and also has nine assists. The 22-year-old has been directly involved in nine of Düsseldorf’s last 11 goals. “He’s outstanding at the moment,” said Engelhardt of his Greek teammate on loan from Norwich City. But it’s not just Tzolis. Vincent Vermeij (nine goals), Tanaka (six) and Felix Klaus (five) have also chipped in, while Jona Niemiec, Isak Johannesson and Marlon Mustapha can also contribute.
Düsseldorf also boast a very good record on the road this season, with 25 points from away league games – only Holstein Kiel have managed more (27) – compared to 21 at home. And as mentioned, all four of their games in this cup campaign have been away from home.
Fortuna have had issues getting going in some games this season, often turning things around late on. That shows their character but also that they sometimes lack consistency over the full 90 minutes. For example, they found themselves 3-0 down inside 32 minutes of their home game against Kaiserslautern but still came back to win 4-3. But they don’t always manage turnaround like that. And as impressive as they are going forward, much of that relies heavily on Tzolis.
Düsseldorf will make the short trip down the Rhine to Leverkusen in confident mood. After moving up to third in the table at the weekend, they will be ever more hopeful of achieving promotion back to the Bundesliga. And they will no doubt have a plan for their semi-final against the so far unbeaten Werkself. “We couldn’t have prepared for this cup clash better than with the last five games,” said Thioune of his team’s haul of 13 points. “We’ll come up with an idea that’s doable. In the best case you’ll see a load of them on Wednesday. The dream lives on. We want to go to Berlin,” the Fortuna coach concluded.
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