Carl Zeiss Jena vs Bayer Leverkusen

Defending DFB-Pokal champions Bayer Leverkusen travel to the Ernst Abbe Sportfeld to take on Carl Zeiss Jena in the opening round.

While it’s been a fantastic August for fourth-tier CZ Jena thus far, a real test awaits them this week. The hosts have won all four opening league matches via a combined score of 14-4, including a thumping 4-1 victory against Plauen at the weekend. Rene Klingbeil’s men have set themselves up nicely for their first DFB-Pokal encounter against Bayer Leverkusen since August 2012, looking to erase the memory of an embarrassing 4-0 defeat. But despite their imperious league start and an impressive eight-game unbeaten home run in competitive action (W5, D3), they come into proceedings as massive underdogs. With six of those eight home matches seeing Jena score multiple goals, you’d expect the Thuringia minnows to trouble the scoreboard.

Meanwhile, the beginning of Bayer Leverkusen’s DFB-Pokal title defense had to be pushed back for a week due to their DFB-Supercup duties as Xabi Alonso’s side claimed their third trophy of 2024, courtesy of a penalty shootout win against Stuttgart. ‘Die Werkself’ followed that morale-boosting triumph with a goal-glutted 3-2 win at Borussia Monchengladbach in their Bundesliga curtain-raiser, extending their unbeaten run in domestic competitions to 42 matches! It’s only natural to assume a 43rd is waiting in the wings as the visitors take this trip amid a four-game winning run on hostile turf, excluding fixtures held on neutral soil. Their last three away wins have seen them score 3+ goals at an average of 4.33 per game, highlighting the potential for an action-packed duel.