Birthday, professional debut, it could have been a great evening for former Essen player Noel Futkeu. But he didn’t have his nerves under control.
What a bitter professional debut for striker Noel Futkeu. The former Rot-Weiss Essen and Schwarz-Weiss Essen striker was substituted for world champion Mario Götze in the 77th minute of the DFB Cup round of 16 tie with Eintracht Frankfurt with the score at 0:1.
It was his first professional appearance, for which he had qualified after scoring 30 goals in 32 Oberliga games for ETB last year and 12 goals in 15 games in the current Regionalliga West season for Eintracht Frankfurt U23.
But his six-minute debut could not have gone any worse. When he was on the pitch for one minute, the third division team scored 2:0. When he had been on the pitch for six minutes, he was sent off with a red card.
Far away from the action, he kicked Saarbrücken’s Marcel Gaus in the legs from behind on his 21st birthday and was sent off accordingly. Frankfurt’s sporting director Markus Krösche said on Sky after the game: “The assault shouldn’t happen. He has to learn that too.” But it wasn’t just a bad evening for Futkeu.
Eintracht were also unable to get a foot on the ground and quite rightly lost 2-0. It was Saarbrücken’s second sensation in the current competition, having previously 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 score was 0-0 at the break.
With Eintracht’s elimination, the death of the favorites continues in this cup season. Only Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Mönchengladbach are through to the quarter-finals from the Bundesliga. The clash between VfB Stuttgart and Borussia Dortmund will feature a third Bundesliga team – that’s it.
1. FC Saarbrücken will now look forward to Dortmund on Sunday, where the quarter-final draw will take place at 7:15 pm. The draw will be conducted by U17 World Cup winning coach Christian Wück and his assistant Jens Nowotny