Giant-killers Lotte target BVB

With Werder Bremen, Bayer Leverkusen and 1860 München already defeated, the surprise quarterfinalists Sportfreunde Lotte now face their toughest test in the DFB Cup. The Bundesliga runners-up and former Champions League winners Borussia Dortmund visit the newly promoted third-tier side’s FRIMO-Stadion on Tuesday (20:45 CET). The stadium, located on the Lotte motorway junction, will be bursting at the seams with its capacity of 10,056.

“Of course, I had hoped for an easier opponent. But you can’t pick and choose your opposition,” Said Lotte’s manager Ismail Atalan to the Neuen Osnabrücker Zeitung following the quarterfinal draw. But Lotte’s passionate players won’t be going down without a fight. “We have a chance against Borussia Dortmund,” said Atalan, with confidence in an upset.

Lotte could have easily sold four or five times as many tickets for the biggest game in the club’s history. The whole region is teeming with Sportfreunden fans, and that’s not all. Across the country there is an undivided focus on the potential for the ‘David of the Cup’ to make headlines yet again by upsetting the clear favourites from Westphalia, as well as no lack of football fans who are hoping to see exactly that. In their first two runs at the cup, in 2009/10 and the previous year, Lotte were eliminated in the first round.

For BVB, the roughly 100 kilometre journey to the remotely situated Lotte should be no more than a pit stop en route to their fourth consecutive DFB Cup semi-final. However, it wouldn’t be the first time that Dortmund has lost to a third-tier side in the cup, as six years ago BVB were beaten on penalties in the second round to Kickers Offenbach. Moreover, the three-time DFB Cup winners have had difficulties on the road as of late, winning only three of their last eleven away games. Despite strong results at home, BVB struggled against Berlin teams 1. FC Union and Hertha BSC in their own stadium, both times only progressing after penalties.

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With Werder Bremen, Bayer Leverkusen and 1860 München already defeated, the surprise quarterfinalists Sportfreunde Lotte now face their toughest test in the DFB Cup. The Bundesliga runners-up and former Champions League winners Borussia Dortmund visit the newly promoted third-tier side’s FRIMO-Stadion on Tuesday (20:45 CET). The stadium, located on the Lotte motorway junction, will be bursting at the seams with its capacity of 10,056.

“Of course, I had hoped for an easier opponent. But you can’t pick and choose your opposition,” Said Lotte’s manager Ismail Atalan to the Neuen Osnabrücker Zeitung following the quarterfinal draw. But Lotte’s passionate players won’t be going down without a fight. “We have a chance against Borussia Dortmund,” said Atalan, with confidence in an upset.

Lotte could have easily sold four or five times as many tickets for the biggest game in the club’s history. The whole region is teeming with Sportfreunden fans, and that’s not all. Across the country there is an undivided focus on the potential for the ‘David of the Cup’ to make headlines yet again by upsetting the clear favourites from Westphalia, as well as no lack of football fans who are hoping to see exactly that. In their first two runs at the cup, in 2009/10 and the previous year, Lotte were eliminated in the first round.

For BVB, the roughly 100 kilometre journey to the remotely situated Lotte should be no more than a pit stop en route to their fourth consecutive DFB Cup semi-final. However, it wouldn’t be the first time that Dortmund has lost to a third-tier side in the cup, as six years ago BVB were beaten on penalties in the second round to Kickers Offenbach. Moreover, the three-time DFB Cup winners have had difficulties on the road as of late, winning only three of their last eleven away games. Despite strong results at home, BVB struggled against Berlin teams 1. FC Union and Hertha BSC in their own stadium, both times only progressing after penalties.