"Hurray, we're still alive!" - But: after the cup is before the league

The cup heroes lick their wounds: Steinhart is out for Saturday, behind Deichmann there is a question mark.

Freiburg II is now the game of games.

The match winner slipped seamlessly into the role of the fun brake. Before a teammate could come up with the obvious idea of ​​making the "magical Giesinger night" (Michael Köllner) day, the winning goal scorer put a stop to the celebration against Schalke. Not with Stefan Lex, who as a native Bavarian is not generally averse to worldly pleasures. “I told them: On Saturday they can have a drink because of me, but not today,” the vice-captain grumbled. Looking at the injured full-backs Phillipp Steinhart (fiber tear - two weeks break) and Yannick Deichmann (muscle hardening), Lex added: “We have already had two failures today. So we cannot afford to be careless about regeneration. Otherwise it'll knock the next one out of us right away. "

In other words: after the cup is before the 3rd league - and with another 1-1 on Saturday against Freiburg II, the euphoria would have quickly vanished after making it into the cup's round of 16. It would be a shame, because not only Lex, who is still goalless in the league, had his personal aha experience on Tuesday. He said: "If we act as intensely and courageously as we do today, then we will inevitably score again." The rebirth of Lex as a goalscorer is just one of the many little stories behind the big story that many Lions may only become aware of on Sunday evening will - if not only the “high-ranking” around defending champion Borussia Dortmund, but also a ball with the lion's coat of arms is in the draw urn (6.30 p.m., ARD sports show).

If we act as intensely and courageously as we do today, then we will inevitably score again.

Schalke match winner Stefan Lex.

It hurt just to watch as Merveille Biankadi dragged himself across the field in the final phase, exhausted and no longer able to drive one last relieving counterattack.

Sascha Mölders, 36, on the other hand, who is ten years older, put on a sprint in the 89th minute as if he were the 18-year-old boy from Essen, who is currently collecting his first merits for the district league club DJK Wacker Bergeborbeck.

The fact that his legendary belly does not prevent him from making significant contributions to the attacking game of the lions could be admired on Saturday in Saarbrücken when Mölders put the ball on for Biankadi with his chest.

And that the captain does not belong to the scrap iron even at 36 and a half, he proved on Tuesday with a passionate lecture including further goal preparation (for Lex).

Why Mölders masked the "bad word" Schalke ...

Speaking of food: As befits a staunch Ruhrpottkicker, Mölders couldn't bear to wear the opponent's name Schalke 04 under the lapel of his cup jersey.

He solved the problem in his own way - by pasting over the “bad word” in the embroidered pairing.

“It is well known: As a boy from Essen, I find it difficult when Schalke is on my jersey,” he said mischievously: “We played a really good game.

That was great today - we're enjoying it! "

Marius Willsch: Comeback after 157 days against your favorite club

From Marius Willsch's mouth, pleasure would be too weak a word to express what he felt on Tuesday evening when he was substituted on for his exhausted friend “Lexi” eight minutes before the end. It was a “super hot” feeling to celebrate the comeback in such a game after a forced break of 157 days as a result of a pubic bone injury. “Right now I feel good,” said the right-back after the final whistle: “Although I don't yet know exactly what role adrenaline plays. But I'm not in pain - and that is the most important thing. ”You have to know: Willsch would not have preferred to come on against any other opponent, because for some inexplicable reason the heart of the 30-year-old Passauer beats for royal blue. So understandable against this background,that the returnees spoke of "madness" - and of the "icing on the cake".

From Marco Hiller's point of view, the icing on the cake might have been a victory on penalties.

As an exception, the lions created facts on Tuesday in regular season - not least thanks to the man with the stage name "Hiller Killer", who also had enough scenes from the game to distinguish himself.

"You don't know Hiller any other way," enthused Willsch from the strong support between the posts: "Marco is made for games like this."

Draw on Sunday from 6.30 p.m. in the ARD sports show

The gentlemen from the management should also have come to this conclusion.

Marc-Nicolai Pfeifer was happy about an unplanned rain of money (500,000 euros plus sum X in a live TV game in the 3rd round), Günther Gorenzel, who is responsible for the sport, has probably already started to plan the penny.

So far there has been no money in the budget to extend with supporters like Hiller or Dennis Dressel - since Tuesday things have been looking better in this regard.

Thanks to a great moment in Giesingen that no one involved will ever forget.