Hertha Berlin vs. Kaiserslautern: DFB Cup LIVE blog and team news

In what is an all second-division tie, Hertha Berlin and Kaiserslautern will do battle for the second time in less than a month on Tuesday (kick-off 6pm CET).

Hertha’s Luca Schuler scored against his former side to settle the teams’ Bundesliga 2 contest at a packed Fritz-Walter Stadion in early November, a result that halted the Red Devils’ impressive five-game unbeaten run in all competitions.

With Hertha on the up, there is very little to separate the former Bundesliga giants in the second-tier standings right now. The hosts sit just three points above Lautern in fifth after Matchday 14, adding extra spice to Tuesday’s mouthwatering tie in the German capital.

Watch: Kaiserslautern 0-1 Hertha Berlin – highlights

The Old Lady’s win at Holstein Kiel on Saturday was their sixth in a row in all competitions – and their ninth in their last 11 matches. Even so, coach Stefan Leitl admits his team will need to “push themselves to the limit” if they are to progress on Tuesday evening.

A Kaiserslautern victory at Eintracht Braunschweig would have kept the Red Devils level on points with Hertha in Bundesliga 2, but a 2-0 defeat by coach Torsten Lieberknecht’s former employers left them in seventh place, six points off automatic promotion. However, Lautern will take heart from their last visit to the Olympiastadion back in February, when Luca Sirch’s second-half effort earned them a narrow win.

LIVE blog!

DFB Pokal
Round of 16 Round of 16 Olympiastadion

Prtajin warning

Lautern’s Ivan Prtajin goes in a bit too hard on Marton Dardai and the visiting No. 9 gets a strong telling off from the ref.

Away we go!

Kaiserslautern – in red shorts and white shorts – get this eliminator underway.

Electric atmosphere

The Olympiastadion is resplendent in blue and white as both teams emerge from the tunnel and take to the pitch ahead of tonight’s Round of 16 tie.

More on that Hertha team

Stefan Leitl makes two changes to the side that beat Holstein Kiel at the weekend. Kolbe replaces the suspended Zeefuik, while Leistner is preferred to Karbownik in central defence.

More on that Kaiserslautern team

Torsten Lieberknecht makes three alterations to the Kaiserslautern side beaten 2-0 at Eintracht Braunschweig in Bundesliga 2. Simoni, Kleinhansl and Gyamfi come in, replacing Krahl, Haas and Robinson.

Hertha starting XI

Ernst – Gechter, Leistner, Dardai, Kolbe – Seguin, Eichhorn – Reese (c), Cuisance, Winkler – Schuler

Hertha subs

Gersbeck, Eitschberger, Karbownik, Demme, Krattenmacher, Sessa, Grönning, Kownacki, Thorsteinsson

Kaiserslautern starting XI

Simoni – Sirch, Gyamfi, Elvedi – Abiama, Kunze, Şahin, Kleinhansl – Skyttä, Ritter (c) – Prtajin

Kaiserslautern subs

Krahl, Haas, Aremu, Hofmeister, Raschl, Robinson, Alidou, Hanslik, Tachie

Kaiserslautern team news

French right-back Paul Joly recently joined a lengthy injury list for Kaiserslautern that includes Mahir Emreli, Jisoo Kim, Kenny Prince Redondo and Simon Asta, but Maxwell Gyamfi is available after missing Saturday’s defeat at Eintracht Braunschweig through suspension

Hertha team news

John Anthony Brooks and Leon Jensen remain sidelined through injury and Deyovaisio Zeefuik will miss Tuesday’s tie through suspension, but Maurice Krattenmacher, Niklas Kolbe und Luca Schuler have all recovered from knocks and Diego Demme is also available after missing the victory over Holstein Kiel.

Stefan Leitl on facing Kaiserslautern

“Kaiserslautern are an absolutely top-level team in the second division. We saw how difficult the match there was and we know how difficult it can be now. But this time, it’s a different competition and a different approach. Both teams have to win in order to advance.”

Torsten Lieberknecht on facing Hertha

“Our opponents will do everything they can to get through this round and to make their big dream of a home final come true. We saw Hertha’s strengths [when we last faced them], which particularly came into play when we forgot to maintain good defensive cover during our attackings. At the same time, we saw that we were playing against a team we were on equal footing with.”

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Watch: Holstein Kiel 0-1 Hertha Berlin – highlights

Hertha, meanwhile, leapfrogged their midweek guests by beating Kiel and moving to within one point of the top-three.

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Watch: Braunschweig 2-0 Kaiserslautern – highlights

It was far from perfect preparation for Lautern at the weekend as they slipped to seventh after being beaten 2-0 by lowly Eintracht Braunschweig.

Hertha hopfeful

The Old Lady’s 1-0 win at Kiel on Saturday was their sixth consecutive success in all competitions – without conceding a single goal – propelling them into the Bundesliga 2 promotion picture.

Lautern looking to build

Torsten Lieberknecht’s side have only won of their last four, but are still in the promotion hunt in seventh place after a strong start to the season. They would not mind another cup run after losing to Leverkusen in the 2023/24 final.

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Watch: Kaiserslautern 0-1 Hertha Berlin

Luca Schuler scored the winner when the sides clashed in Bundesliga 2 in early November.

Kaiserslautern – the story so far

Die Roten Teufel are still yet to play a DFB Cup game at home this season. In the first round, they downed fifth-tier RSV Eintracht 7-0 on the road, before edging past Greuther Fürth 1-0 in the second round thanks to Naatan Skyttä’s early winner.

Hertha – the story so far

The Berlin outfit eeked out a win on penalties (5-3) away to Preußen in the first round after going the full 120 minutes without scoring before claiming an emphatic 3-0 win over Elversberg thanks to goals from Michaël Cuisance, Sebastian Grönning, and Jon Thorsteinsson.

Welcome!

Welcome and thank you for joining us for build-up and live coverage of the DFB Cup Round of 16 match between Hertha Berlin and Kaiserslautern. The game is scheduled to kick off at 6:00 p.m. CET on Tuesday.