RW Essen hosts Bayer Leverkusen in the German DFB Pokal 1/8 finals. The match will be played on Tuesday, February 2nd at Stadion Essen (Essen)
RW Essen looks strong in the regional league. The team leads the standings and claims to be promoted. In the German Cup, Christian Neidhart's charges have eliminated such rivals as Arminia (1:0) and Fortuna (3:1). Now Essen will have an interesting test in the form of the grandee of national football. The team will be able to assay its strength with a really top rival. Essen has two footballers with Russian passports (Alexander Hain and Maksimilian Pronichev). But only the first of them is the regular player. Such performers as Engelmann, Kefkir, Harenbrock, Scholder, and Grotte are the leaders of the current Essen.
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The team from Leverkusen is holding a quite good season in the Bundesliga, where it shares 3-4 places with Wolfsburg. For Bayer, the very fact of being in the top three is a real event. Peter Bosz competently leads the team, improves the game characteristics of certain footballers, and prepares the team well tactically. The Red-Blacks will play in the Europa League playoffs, where they can reach the decisive stages of the tournament. In a rivalry with a team from the regional league, Bayer's coaching staff will probably use roster rotation. We can see footballers with minimal playing practice such as Baumgartlinger, Fosu-Mensah, Dragovic, Frimpong (recently bought from Celtic), Gedikli, Bellarabi, and Grill. Such a decision would be reasonable and would make it possible to check the nearest reserve.
It will be difficult for Essen to play against such an authoritative and powerful club. Bayer has already seen the representative of the regional division eliminate Arminia and Fortuna, so it must take its opponents seriously. Bosz has good personnel reserves at his disposal, and they will allow him to carry out a high-quality rotation of the lineup. And the visitors will probably win with a difference of at least two goals.
Prediction for the match: Bayer Leverkusen to win with -1.5 handicap
