Things are not going well for RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga, but they are doing much better in the cup.

Still in the cup, still with coach Marco Rose: RB Leipzig, with its coach who has come under fire, has reached the semi-finals of the DFB Cup and has kept its chances of a season with a title alive. The Saxons beat VfL Wolfsburg 1-0 (0-0), who missed out on their first semi-final appearance since winning the cup in 2015.

In front of 40,478 fans, Benjamin Sesko (69th minute) relieved the Leipzig crowd with a handball penalty and ensured RB's fourth semi-final in the past five years. This should calm down the discussions about Rose's future at least until the Bundesliga duel with FSV Mainz 05 next Saturday.

In addition to Leipzig, VfB Stuttgart, defending champions Bayer Leverkusen and third division club Arminia Bielefeld are in the semifinals. The duels will be drawn on Sunday (6.45 p.m./ARD) in the football museum in Dortmund and will be played on April 1 and 2.

Leipzig and Wolfsburg faced each other in the cup for the seventh time since 2011. Before kick-off, the record with four wins clearly spoke in favor of the Saxons, but the guests had won the most recent duel in the second round in autumn 2023. In addition, VfL had inflicted the heaviest Bundesliga home defeat on Leipzig with a 5-1 victory at the end of November.

With only one win in the second half of the Bundesliga, Leipzig were anything but confident. Before kick-off, sporting director Marcel Schäfer tried to calm the discussion about coach Rose. "We are convinced that we will achieve our goals for the season in this constellation. We know that we are not in a good phase," said the 40-year-old on Sky.

Neither team seemed inhibited, the match was intense but also played with technical finesse. Neither team was outstanding at first, but it looked like football.

The chances were just a small detail, and the fans didn't see anything of the highest quality. Loïs Openda (4th) missed the target, as did Tiago Tomás (5th). Konstantinos Koulierakis (14th) stopped a Leipzig counterattack in dire need.

Patrick Wimmer was responsible for the most dangerous shot in the first half. The winger, who has been playing in the center for a few weeks, tried to surprise RB keeper Maarten Vandevoordt with a hard shot into the near corner shortly before half-time. But the replacement for regular goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi made a brilliant save.

Shortly after the change, however, the young Belgian would have been powerless. Mohamed Amoura (48th) won the header duel with Ridle Baku, who only moved from Wolfsburg to Leipzig in January, but the ball hit the crossbar. A minute later, Andreas Skov Olsen tested Vandevoordt with a shot, who was able to deflect it for a corner.

Then Leipzig got a little more of the game again - and almost celebrated. But Sesko (64th) didn't get the header from close range perfectly, and the ball flew past the far post. Shortly afterwards, Sesko crossed in the penalty area and hit Wolfsburg's Kilian Fischer's arm with the ball. Referee Tobias Reichel immediately pointed to the penalty spot, and the video assistant confirmed the decision. Sesko stepped up and scored safely.