U19s to take on FC St. Pauli for a cup quarter-final berth | OneFootball

Borussia's U19s will close out what is already their fourth English week of the 2022/23 season with a DFB-Pokal round of 16 tie against FC St. Pauli on Saturday (15/10 at 11:00 CET, Brackel Youth Performance Centre).

"You're starting to see the strain the boys are under. They're playing every three or four days; the majority of them are involved with their national teams too. Now we need to go to our limit once again, then things will get slightly calmer," said coach Mike Tullberg, who is expecting his charges to follow up their all-important 2-0 victory against Sevilla on Tuesday with another show of strength against the A-Junior-Bundesliga Nord/Nordost's fourth-placed team. He is hoping for a comparable crowd and show of support to the UEFA Youth League game. "There was a real atmosphere in the stands. The fans gave the boys, who show so much heart, an additional push. That'd help them against St. Pauli as well, and they'd deserve it too."

The Hamburg side reached the second round of the cup courtesy of a 2-1 triumph away to Kickers Offenbach, while BVB ran out 4-0 victors at Energie Cottbus. "St. Pauli are an unpredictable but very strong team. They lost 6-2 in Magdeburg and then won 6-0 against Cottbus. We have to play with control and make sure that it doesn't get too wild," said Tullberg, looking ahead to the tie.

BVB will have some new options on the personnel front. Filippo Mane, who had to serve a suspension in the Youth League, is available once again. Jaden Korzynietz has returned to action after a bout of illness, while forward Isaak Nwachukwu, who spent weeks on the sidelines with a broken hand, made a successful comeback from the bench in the match against Sevilla. That means that the only first-team regular still absent through injury is Jonah Husseck. "We want to go as far as possible in the cup and beat FC St. Pauli for a place in the quarter-final," declared Mike Tullberg.

Once the cup tie is over, the U19s will next be in action on Tuesday 25 October against Manchester City (kick-off at 16:00 CET at the Youth Performance Centre). The Bundesliga campaign will continue against Viktoria Cologne on Saturday 29 October. (wiwi)