It’s a duel in the west when West Regionalliga side Rot-Weiss Essen face Bundesliga outfit Borussia Mönchengladbach. The two clubs, both based in the West of Germany, have a lot of history behind them, and their game will be one of three matches that open the 2017/18 DFB-Pokal campaign today (Friday 11th August) (20:45 CEST). Despite the history that both clubs have to their name, RWE and the Fohlenelf have seldom crossed paths over the last six decades – only meeting twice in the DFB-Pokal, and 14 times in the Bundesliga.
However, they haven’t shared a pitch since January 9th, 1982, in a DFB-Pokal game that took place in Essen. Back then, it was Borussia who progressed to the next round with an emphatic 4-0 win. Having said that, it’s not all doom and gloom for RWE – who will be filled with confidence after taking down giants BVB in a friendly 3-2 this pre-season.
RWE coach Demandt a familiar face for Gladbach
It’ll be a special game for Essen manager Sven Demandt, as the 52-year-old coached Gladbach’s U19s and U23s from 2008 until 2015. “There are certain people coming to Essen who I’m really looking forward to seeing again,” said Demandt to Reviersport in July: “But we’ll give our all against Borussia and try to pull off a miraculous upset in front of our phenomenal fans.”
Gladbach’s director of sport Max Eberl himself warned of the special atmosphere that RWE are capable of creating: “It’s a duel with a lot of tradition behind it. We’re looking forward to playing Essen and the electric atmosphere that’ll come with that. We’ll respect our opponents from Essen and do our best to put in a good performance which gets us through to the next round.”
It’s a duel in the west when West Regionalliga side Rot-Weiss Essen face Bundesliga outfit Borussia Mönchengladbach. The two clubs, both based in the West of Germany, have a lot of history behind them, and their game will be one of three matches that open the 2017/18 DFB-Pokal campaign today (Friday 11th August) (20:45 CEST). Despite the history that both clubs have to their name, RWE and the Fohlenelf have seldom crossed paths over the last six decades – only meeting twice in the DFB-Pokal, and 14 times in the Bundesliga.
However, they haven’t shared a pitch since January 9th, 1982, in a DFB-Pokal game that took place in Essen. Back then, it was Borussia who progressed to the next round with an emphatic 4-0 win. Having said that, it’s not all doom and gloom for RWE – who will be filled with confidence after taking down giants BVB in a friendly 3-2 this pre-season.
RWE coach Demandt a familiar face for Gladbach
It’ll be a special game for Essen manager Sven Demandt, as the 52-year-old coached Gladbach’s U19s and U23s from 2008 until 2015. “There are certain people coming to Essen who I’m really looking forward to seeing again,” said Demandt to Reviersport in July: “But we’ll give our all against Borussia and try to pull off a miraculous upset in front of our phenomenal fans.”
Gladbach’s director of sport Max Eberl himself warned of the special atmosphere that RWE are capable of creating: “It’s a duel with a lot of tradition behind it. We’re looking forward to playing Essen and the electric atmosphere that’ll come with that. We’ll respect our opponents from Essen and do our best to put in a good performance which gets us through to the next round.”
