Bayer Leverkusen are motivated to win the DFB-Pokal this season as Kasper Hjulmand sees a great chance to bring some more silverware to the club.
Leverkusen won the competition in 2023, when they completed an unbeaten domestic Bundesliga-DFB-Pokal double with Xabi Alonso at the helm.
The Werkself now face St. Pauli in this season's quarter-finals, having knocked out Grossaspach, Paderborn and Borussia Dortmund in the previous rounds.
Leverkusen have reached the DFB-Pokal quarter-finals for the third consecutive season – they previously reached the last eight three times in a row between 2013-14 and 2015-16, their longest such run.
In fact, they have progressed in each of their last four DFB-Pokal quarter-final matches, with their most recent exit at this stage coming in 2015-16 (1-3 at home to Werder Bremen).
Ahead of their tie against St. Pauli, who have failed to win their last six matches in all competitions, Hjulmand said: "I love the Pokal.
"I think we are all motivated to win something and we have the potential here, two games from the final."
— Bayer 04 Leverkusen (@bayer04_en) February 2, 2026
Leverkusen have also scored in each of their last 40 DFB-Pokal matches – a club record for the Werkself and the longest current run of any team. Only three clubs have achieved longer scoring runs in the history of the competition, with Bremen and Koln holding the record at 43 matches.
St. Pauli have already eliminated two Bundesliga sides in this DFB-Pokal season (Hoffenheim in the second round and Borussia Monchengladbach in the round of 16) – they have never progressed in three consecutive cup ties against Bundesliga opponents.
The 2-1 win at Gladbach was also only the second time that St. Pauli have won away at a Bundesliga side in the DFB-Pokal (they also did so in 1986 against Bochum with a 2-1 victory).
Leverkusen will look to hold off St. Pauli without Ibrahim Maza, who scored the winner in both of their previous rounds against Paderborn and Dortmund.
"It's not a big deal with the knee joint. We actually had hopes for this game, but he's not playing tomorrow," added Hjulmand.
"Maybe and hopefully, if everything goes well, he can play on Saturday, but we'll have to see what happens."