Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen have reached the round of 16 of the DFB Cup, while SC Freiburg surprisingly made it out.
BVB prevailed 1-0 (1-0) against TSG Hoffenheim in the second round, Leverkusen struggled to a 5-2 (1-0) win at third division soccer team SV Sandhausen. The mood was particularly good for the second division team SC Paderborn, who caused the next cup surprise with a 3-1 (2-0) win in Freiburg.
Marco Reus (43rd minute) scored the winning goal before the break for Dortmund, who had been superior for a long time. Coach Edin Terzic had changed his team in a few positions and, among others, gave Youssoufa Moukoko and Niklas Süle a chance in the starting line-up. Despite the rotation, BVB showed a strong performance in the first half and completed a successful dress rehearsal before the Bundesliga classic on Saturday (6.30 p.m./Sky) against FC Bayern.
Leverkusen with more effort than expected
Bundesliga table leaders Leverkusen also got off to a confident start and took the lead thanks to a converted penalty kick by Exequiel Palacios (21st). After the break things got wild. Christoph Ehlich (50′) initially equalized for the hosts, four minutes later Jonathan Tah (54′) put Bayer back in front. Just three minutes later, Yassin Ben Balla (57th) equalized again for SVS. Sandhausen then became stronger and even pushed for the lead – but Bayer still prevailed in the end. Adam Hlozek (85th) and Amine Adli (88th/90th 2) made everything clear.
For SC Freiburg, however, there was nothing to celebrate after a puzzling performance. Florent Muslija (18th/33rd) and Filip Bilbija (56th) had given Paderborn a 3-0 lead. Maximilian Eggestein (70th) at least managed to score the next goal for weak Freiburg, whose rebellion came too late in the final phase.
