SC Paderborn vs. Bayer Leverkusen: DFB-Pokal preview, team news & predicted lineups | OneFootball

SC Paderborn

Paderborn head into the tie in red-hot form. Unbeaten in seven and riding a six-match winning streak, Kettemann’s side have emerged as serious contenders in the 2. Bundesliga, currently sitting second in the table. Their latest outing saw them come from behind to beat Dynamo Dresden 2-1 away in a gritty, hard-fought performance.

In the first round, Paderborn eased past 3. Liga side Viktoria Köln 3-1 away, effectively killing the game before half-time with goals from Filip Bilbija and the now-departed Adriano Grimaldi.

Kettemann believes his team can make life difficult for their Bundesliga visitors:

"We want to cause a surprise. Leverkusen is currently in very good form, but we're in good shape. We want to play from our own strengths. If things go wrong, that's what can happen."

Paderborn have progressed beyond the second round in five of their last ten Pokal campaigns, reaching the quarter-finals in both 2017/18 and 2018/19. Last season, they exited at this stage following a home defeat to Werder Bremen.

Team news: 

Marcel Hoffmeier and Calvin Brackelmann will miss out for Paderborn.  

Bayer Leverkusen

Since Kasper Hjulmand’s appointment in September, Leverkusen have rediscovered their rhythm. The Werkself are unbeaten in their six league matches under the Danish coach and currently occupy fifth place in the Bundesliga. Their response to last week’s heavy Champions League defeat to PSG was convincing - a comfortable 2-0 home win over SC Freiburg.

Leverkusen made light work of Regionalliga side Sonnenhof Großaspach in the first round, cruising to a 4-0 victory with Patrick Schick, Arthur, Christian Kofane and Alejandro Grimaldo all on the scoresheet.

Hjulmand was full of respect for Wednesday’s hosts but made his ambitions clear:

“We fully respect them. They have a very good team and have been doing a good job for years. Both in terms of training players and developing young coaches. We have respect for the competition and the opposition, but at the same time we're fully focused on progressing.”

Leverkusen boast a proud Pokal pedigree, having lifted the trophy twice and reached the final five times. Their most recent triumph came in the 2023/24 campaign under Xabi Alonso, defeating Kaiserslautern 1-0 to complete a domestic double. Last season, they fell at the semi-final stage to surprise package Arminia Bielefeld.

Team news: 

Ezequiel Fernández, Malik Tillman, Axel Tape and Exequiel Palacios, Lucas Vázquez and Nathan Tella are all set to miss out for Leverkusen. 

H-2-H record

The two teams have met twice before in the DFB-Pokal with Leverkusen advancing both times, most recently as the 2023/24 edition. The Bundesliga side have also won four out of their last five matches against Paderborn. 

Predicted lineups

SC Paderborn (3-4-2-1): Schubert (GK) - Hansen, Götze, Scheller - Curda, Baur, Castaneda, Obermair - Bilbija, Bätzner - Tigges 

Bayer Leverkusen (3-4-2-1): Flekken (GK) - Quansah, Badé, Tapsoba - Arthur, Andrich, Garcia, Grimaldo - Hoffmann, Poku - Kofane