Birthday, professional debut, it could have been a great evening for former Essen resident Noel Futkeu. But he couldn’t control his nerves.

What a bitter professional debut for striker Noel Futkeu. The former striker of Rot-Weiss Essen and Schwarz-Weiß Essen was substituted on for world champion Mario Götze in the 77th minute with the score at 0-1 for his team, Eintracht Frankfurt, in the DFB Cup round of 16.

His first professional appearance, for which he had qualified with 30 goals in 32 Oberliga games last year for ETB and twelve goals in 15 games in the current Regionalliga West season for the U23 team of Eintracht Frankfurt.

But his six-minute debut could not have gone worse. When he had been on the pitch for one minute, the third division team scored the 2-0. When he had been on the field for six minutes, he was sent off for a red card.

Far away from the action, he kicked Saarbrücken’s Marcel Gaus from behind in the legs on his 21st birthday and had to go down accordingly. Frankfurt’s sports director Markus Krösche said after the game on “Sky”: “The assault must not happen. He has to learn that too.” But it wasn’t just a wasted evening for Futkeu.

His team, Eintracht, also couldn’t get a foot on the ground and lost 2-0, fully deserved. For Saarbrücken, it was the second sensation in the current competition; the third division team had already knocked record champions Bayern Munich out of the competition.

The reward before the quarter-final draw on Sunday. 1,724,800 euros are guaranteed to go into the account of 1. FC Saarbrücken. Kai Brünker and Luca Kerber sent the Ludwigspark into a frenzy in the second half after the teams went in at half-time tied at 0-0.

With the elimination of Eintracht, the favorites continue to die in this cup season. Only Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Mönchengladbach are left from the Bundesliga in the quarterfinals. A third Bundesliga club will be in the tie between VfB Stuttgart and Borussia Dortmund – that’s it.

On Sunday, 1. FC Saarbrücken will be looking eagerly to Dortmund, where the quarter-final draw will take place at 7:15 p.m. The draw will be led by U17 World Cup coach Christian Wück, with assistant draw master Jens Nowotny.