LEVERKUSEN: Bunde­sliga leaders Bayer Lever­kusen overwhelmed second division club Fortuna Duss­eldorf 4-0 on Wednesday to reach the German Cup final and stretch their unbeaten run to 40 matches across all competitions this season.

First-half goals from Jeremie Frimpong, Amine Adli and Florian Wirtz put the game to bed as Dusseldorf struggled to cope with the hosts’ pace.

Germany international Wirtz added a fourth with a penalty on the hour to give Xabi Alonso’s team another shot at winning a major trophy for the first time in 31 years.

Leverkusen will face Kaiserslautern, who ousted third division Saarbrucken 2-0 on Tuesday, in the final on May 25.

“It is very important for the last game of the season to be a final,” Alonso, who is staying at Leverkusen despite interest from major European clubs. “We now have a super chance and we are happy.

“It has been a long road. We started back in July with new players. But they have done it well. We show it on the pitch and that is important. We now have to enjoy the moment that we have earned the chance to be in the final.”

Leverkusen can clinch the Bundesliga title for the first time earlier than that, however, with a 13-point lead over second-placed Bayern Munich and seven games remaining. They are also through to the Europa League last eight where they face West Ham United.

Duesseldorf’s hopes of joining Kaiserslautern in the first-ever all second-division final took an early hit, Frimpong slamming in from close range after seven minutes.

Wirtz, again pulling the strings for Leverkusen despite being just 20, found Adli who blasted home confidently to double the lead.

Leverkusen scored a third after winning the ball back and working it quickly to Wirtz, who shed a defender and finished past Florian Kastenmeier.

After 60 minutes, Patrik Schick’s header connected with the hand of Duesseldorf’s Matthias Zimmerman, with the referee pointing to the spot after a VAR review.

Kastenmeier guessed correctly but Wirtz’s shot was per­f­ectly tucked inside the left post, and the home fans broke out into chants of “Ber­lin, we’re going to Berlin” for May’s cup final.

Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2024