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German Cup: Daniel Batz the toast of Saarbrücken after shootout heroics

  • March 04, 2020

“This is the biggest sensation since the birth of Christ,” exclaimed Saarbrücken’s jubilant vice president, Dieter Ferner, at full-time. The former goalkeeper and two-time head coach of the club where he is considered a legend, couldn’t hide his joy as the party just got started in the capital of the German state of Saarland.

The star of the show for Saarbrücken was, however, their current goalkeeper Daniel Batz. The 29-year-old has only played a handful of games for his club since moving there in 2017 from neighboring SV Elversberg in 2017, but he rose to the occasion, saving five penalties in all – one from Fortuna’s Rouwen Hennings in the final minutes of the 90 and another four in the shootout.

“Five penalties! That’s more than I’d saved together in my whole career,” said an astounded Batz, who once played in the Bundesliga for Freiburg.

Batz saved five penalties for Saabrücken on a night that will live long in the memory.

‘We want more’

It seems as though Saarbrücken are not going to settle for a prestigious and lucrative semi-final against another Bundesliga opponent.

The scorer of their goal, Tobias Janicke, says they now have their sights set firmly on reaching the final at the Olympiastadion in Berlin in May.

“We want more. If you are in the semi-final, you want to be in the final,” the attacking midfielder said.

“This here is simply brilliant.” added their delighted coach Lukas Kwasniok. “But we want to continue our journey.”

Even Germany’s foreign minister Heiko Mass, who was born in Saarland, added his congratulations via Twitter: “The insanity! I expect you in Berlin!”

Janicke had fired Saarbrücken ahead in the 31st minute with a neat finish before Mathias Jorgensen levelled with a late header to force extra time after Batz had kept out Hennings penalty.

Fortuna missed two chances to win the shootout as Batz denied Kevin Stoger and Matthias Zimmermann and then saved Jorgensen’s spot-kick after Janicke had drilled in Saarbrücken’s final penalty.

Saarbrücken’s reward is another Bundesliga opponent in the final four, with Bayern Munich already through following their 1-0 win at Schalke.

Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/german-cup-daniel-batz-the-toast-of-saarbr%C3%BCcken-after-shootout-heroics/a-52634366?maca=en-rss-en-sports-1027-xml-atom

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