Berlin, Oct 29 (IANS) Borussia Dortmund came from behind to crush second division club Paderborn 7-1 while Leverkusen cruised to a 6-0 win over lower league side Viktoria Cologne to secure a berth for the last 16 of the German Cup.
Dortmund on Wednesday showed no mercy with Paderborn as the hosts and eight-time German football champions bounced back to trounce the visitors 7-1, reports Xinhua.
However, things started other than expected as Thomas Tuchel’s men fell behind against the run of the game. Srdjan Lakic made use of moment of madness by Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Buerki to break the deadlock into the open goal in the 21st minute.
It remained a short-lived joy for the underdogs as Gonzalo Castro’s through ball allowed Adrian Ramos to round Paderborn custodian Lukas Kruse for the leveller four minutes later.
Dortmund continued their relentless performance and added another two goals, through Gonzalo Castro and Shinji Kagawa, to make it 3-1 on the scoreboards with four minutes remaining in the first half.
The hosts started where they left off as Ilkay Guendogan extended the lead following a converted a foul play penalty nine minutes into the second half. Castro wasn’t done with the scoring and wrapped his brace only four minutes later.
Paderborn were unable to put up some resistance as Dortmund’s Lukasz Piszczek and Henrikh Mkhitaryan got their names also on the scoreboards to round off the 7-1 victory.
Leverkusen staged a faultless performance to move 6-0 past lower league side Viktoria Cologne. The “Werkself” made short work of Viktoria after putting the game beyond doubt with three first-half goals.
The visitors caught a bright start on the road as Julian Brandt netted Karim Bellarabi’s build up play for the opener in the 15th minute.
Bellarabai was on target 20 minutes later as he doubled the lead after a one-two with Brandt.
The youngster was again in the thick of things after providing Javier Hernandez with a lob into the box that allowed the Mexican international to beat Viktoria Cologne’s keeper Nico-Stephano Pellatz for the 3-0 lead before the break.
The hosts looked better after the restart but yet Leverkusen extended the lead through Hernandez, who capitalized on Brandt’s third assist of the evening at the 54th minute.
After losing Markus Brzenska for his second bookable offence, the hosts were unable to put up some resistance hence Stefan Kiessling and Vladen Yurchenko completed the 6-0 win to progress into the next round.
Elsewhere, clinical Monchengladbach knocked out wasteful Schalke with a 2-0 victory on the road. Lars Stindl and Thorgan Hazard scored the decisive goals for the “Foals”.
SV Werder Bremen edged Cologne 1-0 thanks to the only goal of the match by former Cologne striker Anthony Ujah.
VfB Stuttgart secured their berth for the next round with an expected 2-0 victory over lower league side Carl Zeiss Jena.
Bundesliga bottom-placed team FC Augsburg returned to winning ways in the German Cup as they overcame second division team Freiburg 3-0.
Heidenheim booked their place in the last sixteen after winning the penalty shoot-out 4-3 against second division rival Sandhausen while lower league side Reutlingen lost 3-0 to second tier club Braunschweig.
The match days of the German Cup last 16 are scheduled for December 15.