DFB-Pokal Frauen: Narrow win for Bayern against Leverkusen, Eight more goals for Wolfsburg, Frauen-Bundesliga clubs in quarter-final
| Pernille Harder | Reinaldo Coddou H./Getty Images |
Frauen-Bundesliga clubs avoided an upset in the Round of 16 of the DFB-Pokal. All the quarter-final teams are from Germany's top-flight as this round was the end of the road for Carl Zeiss Jena and SGS Essen, who were both in last season's Frauen-Bundesliga.
Defending champions FC Bayern faced a tricky fixture against Bayer Leverkusen, but they managed to keep their perfect domestic record with Pernille Harder's solitary strike inside the last 20 minutes. The Danish striker, who will celebrate her 34th birthday at the middle of this month, was also on target in last season's final win over Wolfsburg.
Despite Alexandra Popp's move to Borussia Dortmund, Stephan Lerch's side is in an impressive goalscoring form this term. Wolfsburg scored half a dozen or more goals for the fifth time this season in their 8-0 win over fellow Frauen-Bundesliga side TSG Hoffenheim on Monday.
Youngster Cora Zicai scored back-to-back braces, while former Hoffenheim midfielder Lena Lattwein also contributed with two goals. The former giants will host league leaders FC Bayern after their games against Eintracht Frankfurt and Feyenoord.
Frankfurt needed a penalty shootout to book their place in the quarter-final after no goals in 120 minutes against Nürnberg at Max-Morlock-Stadion. HSV also used their big stadium Volksparkstadion, but they lost to Union Berlin in what was arguably the game of the round.
Less than a week after their eight-goal thriller in Frauen-Bundesliga, Union Berlin beat Hamburger SV 4-3 in extra-time in a match that had plenty of drama. Like their league encounter, HSV took a two-goal lead before Marie-Louise Eta's side produced a stunning comeback after the hour mark.
Just when the visitors thought they would advance to the next round, 18-year-old Jonna Wrede forced extra-time with her first professional goal. Union Berlin then reduced to ten before Nele Bauereisen's third goal against HSV in a week decided the tie in their favor.
Werder Bremen's game in Mainz also headed to extra-time as the hosts eventually paid the price for the red card to Israeli international Vital Kats. Sarah Gutmann sent Frauen-Bundesliga's fourth-placed team to the cup quarter-final with a brace.
Köln still have the dream of playing the final at the RheinEnergieStadion with the in-form striker Pauline Bremer scoring the only goal against fellow Frauen-Bundesliga outfit RB Leipzig. Stuttgart and Freiburg are the other teams in the last eight after their comfortable wins over SGS Essen and Jena, respectively.
