DFB Cup - Knockout for Magdeburg in six minutes thanks to Joker Niemiec
A cup night under floodlights could not end more bitterly. Within six minutes, 1. FC Magdeburg's dream of reaching the quarter-finals was shattered. Joker Jona Niemiec turned the game of the two-division soccer team 1. FC Magdeburg against Düsseldorf around with a brace. With his equalizer in the 87th minute, he equalized Magdeburg's lead through Baris Atik (15th) before scoring the winner in stoppage time (90.+3) to make it 2:1 (0:1) in front of 20,090 spectators in the MDCC Arena. It was Fortuna's first quarter-final appearance since the 2019/2020 season.
"Bitter, yes, but somewhere along the line we briefly reverted to the old patterns - like we had in the league. When you have a game where they have to reward you, where you're still nil up until the 86th minute, you have to take it with you," said captain Amara Condé, adding: "Unfortunately, we didn't have the maturity, we invited them twice."
Magdeburg's playmaker Atik took the early lead after a quarter of an hour, as his cross from half-field to Luc Castaignos went straight into the goal after a touchdown, as the striker was unable to reach the ball. Visiting keeper Karol Niemczycki, who came on for Florian Kastenmeier, was also unable to reach the ball.
Fortuna, who made four changes after the 5:0 win in Nuremberg, had to chase an early deficit. That gave them little security. In addition, Düsseldorf tried too often with long balls. After the visitors lost possession, Xavier Amaechie (31) could have increased the lead, but he only hit the far post from an acute angle.
After the changeover, Fortuna were suddenly wide awake and played a lively game. Only the last precise pass was missing too often. The hosts exploited the Rhinelanders' pressure phase to create good counter-attacking opportunities. As the FCM tried to bring the result over time, a ball loss by Silas Gnaka initiated the counterattack, which the substitute Niemiec completed with a shot into the right-hand corner. When everyone was expecting extra time, the joker struck again and scored the winner. "Extremely please, difficult to find the right words now. We got the equalizer because we stopped playing and just played long. Our opponents controlled us with short passes. We then descended into chaos."
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Read also:
- Fortuna Düsseldorf advanced to the quarter-finals of the DFB Cup for the first time since the 2019/2020 season, thanks to Jona Niemiec's double pack.
- The North Rhine-Westphalia team overturned 1. FC Magdeburg's lead in the MDCC Arena, with Niemiec scoring both goals.
- Magdeburg took an early lead through Baris Atik, but Düsseldorf struggled to recover from the deficit, with long balls often failing to produce results.
- The turning point came after the break, as Niemiec scored from a counter-attack and then sealed the victory with a stoppage-time goal.
- The defeat was particularly bitter for Magdeburg, who had briefly shown signs of their old form but ultimately lacked the maturity to see out the game.
- Düsseldorf's captain, Amara Condé, lamented the team's failure to take advantage of their opportunities and praised Fortuna's ability to control the game with short passes.
- The victory was a boost for Düsseldorf, who will now look forward to the quarter-finals of the DFB Cup in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Source: www.stern.de
