The Bundesliga top three of Bayern Munich, Bayer
Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund all turn their attention to the German Cup in quarter-final clashes this week.
Leverkusen host second division Kaiserslautern on Wednesday and will see this competition as the ideal opportunity to finally win a trophy again and shake off their tag of being eternal runners-up.
The side sits second in the Bundesliga table once more but it does not seem realistic that they will make up the 13 point deficit which separates them from leaders Bayern.
But Leverkusen holding Munich to a league draw earlier in the season shows that they can compete with the best Germany has to offer over 90 minutes, if not necessarily the whole season.
First comes the quarter-final with Kaiserslautern though and the team is determined not to slip up.
"We already know well enough what our goal in the competition is - to reach the final," Lars Bender told the Bundesliga website.
"But first we must qualify for the next round, the semi-finals.
"We are finally in the situation again that we can go far in the cup. That's something we've not managed in recent years.
"We have a home game, which we have not had for a while (in the cup). Therefore we look forward to the game and definitely want to progress."
Third-placed Borussia Dortmund have struggled for consistency this season with injuries hampering their ability to find a rhythm.
Marco Reus and Sven Bender were the latest to pick up injuries during Saturday's win over Werder Bremen and both will miss their Tuesday cup clash at Eintracht Frankfurt.
They will join defenders Mats Hummels and Neven Subotic on the sidelines but Dortmund will still expect to have too much quality for Eintracht, who are fighting relegation from the top flight.
Frankfurt may have won on Saturday but their success over Braunschweig came at a price with captain Pirmin Schwegler and Johannes Flum taking injuries which could rule them out of the Dortmund game.
League leaders Bayern Munich were made to work hard for the points in their weekend match with Nuremberg and must be careful to avoid complacency when they make the long trip north to face SV Hamburg on Wednesday.
The hosts are second-bottom of the table and the club advisory board held a near eight-hour long meeting Sunday in which it openly discussed replacing manager Bert van Marwijk with Felix Magath.
Hamburg have lost all three league games since the winter break with a 3-0 scoreline and it seems doubtful the players possess the quality needed to match the European champions.
The final tie is also on Wednesday when Hoffenheim host Wolfsburg.
