Leverkusen crash out, Hamburg win in German Cup
Berlin, Oct 26 (IANS) Bayer Leverkusen crashed out of the German Cup football tournament after losing 3-4 on penalties to lower league side Lotte, while Hamburg cruised to a 4-0 win over Hallescher FC during the second round in Halle.
Bundesliga team Leverkusen on Tuesday got off to a bright start in Lotte as Kevin Volland opened the scoring into the bottom right from inside the box following a through ball from Stefan Kiessling in the 25th minute, reports Xinhua.
Third division team Lotte fought back and levelled the scores thanks to an own goal from Robert Hilbert, who deflected a shot on target into the wrong goal after the restart.
The hosts had to complete the game with 10 men after Tim Wendel was sent off for a second bookable offence in the 79th minute.
Despite being one man down, Lotte were able to cancel out Volland’s second goal of the day as Kevin Freiberger’s last gasp 2-2 equaliser in overtime forced the top-flight team into a penalty shootout.
In the penalty shootout, Lotte kept their nerves and eliminated Leverkusen from the competition as Luka Tankulic converted the decisive shot from the spot.
Top-flight team Hamburg progressed into the round of the last sixteen as Bobby Wood’s first half brace smoothed the way for victory over third division team Hallescher FC.
Wood broke the deadlock for the visitors with only eight minutes played after beating onrushing goalkeeper Fabian Bredlow with a chip following a fast break. The United States international wasn’t done with scoring yet though, as he provided the second goal just before the break to double the lead.
After the break, Hamburg sealed the deal with the third goal as Pierre-Michel Lasogga poked home a rebound from close range before Luca Waldschmidt rounded off the 4-0 victory to book a berth in the next round.
Elsewhere, second division side Sandhausen came from behind to edge the newly promoted Bundesliga side Freiburg 4-3 in the penalty shootout.
Hertha Berlin advanced into the next round thanks to goals from Mitchell Weiser and Valentin Stocker against second division club St. Pauli.
Monchengladbach booked their place in the next round as well as Fabian Johnson and Lars Stindl secured the 2-0 victory at second division team Stuttgart, and Frankfurt downed Ingolstadt 4-1 on penalties after 120 goalless minutes.
