DFB Cup victory by Bayer Leverkusen: Frankfurt misses the VAR

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Leverkusen's opening goal by Edmond Tapsoba (r.)

Photo: Jan Huebner / imago images / Jan Huebner

VAR what?

Two controversial decisions that brought Leverkusen back into play after falling behind - a hand penalty and an offside goal - put the Eintracht fans in a bad mood.

Referee Christian Dingert could not get help from the video referee, as the technology in the DFB Cup is only in use from the round of 16.

Would it have gone better with that?

Hard to say.

In any case, Frankfurt's Sebastian Rohde was dissatisfied: "We got a penalty kick against us out of nowhere, and the game was over." And: "I hope that someday a clever handball rule will be found."

Why a game to catch up?

Bayer Leverkusen had attached themselves to Bayern Munich in December.

Shortly before Christmas, Munich had successfully applied to the DFB to postpone the game against Kiel, with reference to the burden in international competition.

Leverkusen also wanted to play with the same reasoning at a later point in time - and then got their way with some difficulty.

The result:

Leverkusen won 4: 1 (1: 1) and will now face Rot-Weiss Essen in the round of 16, click here for the match report.

So things went better for Bayer than in early January in the league, when they lost 2-1 to Frankfurt.

Returnees:

Got 63 million euros in transfer from Real Madrid, 75 competitive games for Frankfurt, 36 goals - they have fond memories of Luka Jovic at Eintracht.

And now there is a second look.

Sports director Fredi Bobic confirmed before the game on Sky that the attacker will most likely return on loan by the summer.

First half:

Armin Younes scored the 1-0 via direct pick-up (7th minute), the 1-1 Lucas Alario, who safely converted a penalty (27th).

Erik Durm had received a cross, a tough decision that was hardly approved by Frankfurt.

For goal scorer Younes the game ended after 29 minutes due to an injury.

Second half:

It started with Bayer taking a 2-1 lead.

Leverkusen's central defender Edmond Tapsoba was completely free from a free kick shortly after the restart (and also offside).

Then the Frenchman Moussa Diaby made his appearance, he scored two goals and made everything clear (54th, 66th).

Tah vs. Silva: 0-2:

Leverkusen's defender Jonathan Tah and Frankfurt's André Silva had two memorable clashes in this game.

In the first half, Silva had provided the most technically demanding action, when he lobbed the ball over Tah and then had a free run (but it failed to Bayer keeper Lukáš Hrádecký).

In the second half the attacker got away from Tah, who could only stop him with an emergency brake - and saw the red card (73rd).

Captain back on board:

Leverkusen's Charles Aranguiz had been absent from Bayer for almost three months, muscle problems had put him out of action.

Now the captain was back - he came into play in the 81st minute and later put on the armband when Lars Bender left the field.

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