Hertha's dream of Cup final at home ended again, by Kaiserslautern

Hertha Berlin's dream of reaching the German Cup final in their Olympic Stadium home venue for the first time ended extactly there in a 3-1 quarter-final exit against second tier rivals Kaiserslautern on Wednesday.

Jan Elvedi's in the sixth minute, Richmond Tachie in the 38th, and Filip Kaloc in the 69th were on target for the clinical visitors, with the third ending Hertha's comeback efforts earlier in the second half.

Fabian Reese got a stoppage time consolation goal while not to blame for the defeat was goalkeeper Marius Gersbeck who played for the first time since being fined by an Austrian court over an altercation during a pre-season training camp.

The Cup final has been played permanently in the Olympic Stadium since 1985 but while Hertha's amateurs famously reached the decider in 1993 the first team has never achieved this feat.

"Maybe we dreamed and read and heard too much about it," Hertha coach Pal Dardai told Sky TV.

"We were a little tight in the first half. Lautern were effective and had the better body language. We started the second half well but didn't score. It was a day where we could have won but for that you have to score."

The game took place in front of a sell-out crowd of 74,245 which included Eileen Bernstein-Rose, the widow of club president Kay Bernstein, who died on January 16 at age 43.

Fans commemorated Bernstein in a pre-game choreography, and Bernstein-Rose thanked fans for their sympathy and also mentioned the Cup dream in a match newsletter.

"Today it's all about victory! And thus bring Kay's and our dream of the Cup a little closer! You're here, I'm here - justmakeithappen!" she said.

But instead it was the 1990 and 1996 Cup winners Kaiserslautern who reached the last four for the first time in a decade.

There they join fellow twice winners Fortuna Düsseldorf who outlasted St Pauli Hamburg 4-3 on penalties in another second tier duel on Tuesday.

The other quarter-finals are next week, when unbeaten Bundesliga leaders Bayer Leverkusen take on VfB Stuttgart and Borussia Mönchengladbach visit third-division Saarbrücken, who ousted record winners Bayern Munich and Eintracht Frankfurt in the previous rounds.

With two-time reigning champions RB Leipzig and five-time Cup winners Borussia Dortmund also out, the door appears open for smaller club to reach the May 25 final and possibly lift the trophy.

The semi-finals are drawn February 10 and played April 2 and 3.