It’s a David and Goliath encounter – and, at the same time, a clash of league leaders. FC Bayern are away to SC Paderborn 07 in the DFB Cup on Tuesday night (18.30 CET). The record champions, record cup winners and Bundesliga league leaders meet the team top of the third division. "We're taking these opponents very seriously. I think it will be a real cup tie," declared Jupp Heynckes.
Mats Hummels is not taking the Paderborn game for granted. "I was at Dortmund when we were knocked out in Offenbach and Osnabrück,” explained the central defender. "At the time they were league leaders in the third division – just like Paderborn. So unfortunately I know things can go wrong."
Heynckes “very impressed”
Bayern are expecting a tough match on Tuesday night. Teams up their game whenever they play FC Bayern, said Heynckes, while recalling the hard-fought victory away to Mainz at the weekend. "We have to try and prevent that. Just like we did at Mainz, I will give my team the appropriate talking-to."
Heynckes has studied the video of two games involving the third division club – and he was "very impressed. They play very good attacking football." The Bayern coach admires Paderborn's shape, transition play, running and aggression. He predicted: "They will go up and stay in the second division next season. I'm thoroughly convinced of that."
Vidal set to return
Heynckes will probably be able to call on Arturo Vidal (following a stomach bug) for the match at the sold-out Benteler Arena (capacity 15,000). "If he trains as normal I'll take him with us," announced Heynckes ahead of the final pre-match training session. Jérôme Boateng is unavailable due to a stomach infection, and Javi Martinez (ankle) will not travel to Paderborn. "I'm not taking any risks. He will be needed later on," said Heynckes, who hopes the Spaniard will be available for the game against Schalke on Saturday.
Paderborn have knocked out three second division teams (St Pauli, Bochum and Ingolstadt) on their cup run and now are in the quarter-finals for the first time, looking to cause an upset against FC Bayern. Coach Steffen Baumgart was on the winning side three times as a player against the record champions when he was at Hansa Rostock between 1996 and 2001. "We definitely won't just sit back and hope to take it to penalties," he said. He wants his team to "get stuck in and be brave." But he also knows: "We need a very, very, very, very good day to get a result against Bayern."
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