Pokal round-up: Dortmund see off Hoffenheim, Magdeburg go through on penalties
Second-round action in the DFB Pokal continued with a pair of league rivalry games taking place. Dortmund eased past Hoffenheim and Magdeburg needed all 120 minutes to beat Holstein Kiel on penalties.
| Photo: Sandro Halank, Wikimedia Commons, CC-BY-SA 4.0 |
Dortmund withstood an early phase of pressure from Hoffenheim through the form of shots by Ihlas Bebou and Mërgim Berisha and a block from Schlotterbeck on the line. Dortmund, however, produced a few chances of their own and in the tenth minute Dortmund striker Youssofa Moukoko had a huge chance which was saved and then cleared as a result of some astute Marco Reus dribbling.
Late in the first half, Dortmund successfully broke through the Hoffenheim defence with Marius Wolf dispossessing Hoffenheim high up the field and playing Marco Reus through but Oliver Baumann was equal to it. In the final minutes before half time, Reus managed to lift the ball superbly over a Hoffenheim defender with a top corner finish (created by Jamie Bynoe-Gittens) to put Dortmund ahead.
Dortmund pushed for another goal early in the second half with Bynoe-Gittens probing the Hoffenheim defence with attempts in the 18-yard box but this was to no avail. Heading towards a 1-0 loss late in the tie, Hoffenheim went down to 10 men as a result of Ozan Kabak shoving down Donyell Malen to the floor in a synical foul for his second yellow therefore ultimately securing Dortmund's win.
Holstein Kiel 3 - Magdeburg 3 (3-4 on penalties)
Holstein Kiel started strong with two goals within 10 minutes of each other through a left footed effort into the bottom corner from Herbert Brockham and a Connor Krempicki right footed shot within the box in the third and eleventh minutes respectively.
However, two moments of unfortune in own goals through defenders Daniel Heber and Cristiano Piccini in the 60th and 68th minute altered the course of the tie and gave Kiel a route back into the game. Depsite a late shots in the final 10 minutes of the game, Holstein Kiel weren't able to knick the game in the end as keeper Dominik Reimann ensured the match would reach extra-time.
Shortly after the break, Xavier Amaechi struck a shot into the bottom left corner to regain Magdeburg's lead in the game once again and to turn the scoreline in their favour. Magdeburg sought to see the game out for the rest of extra time but in the very last minutes of the game Kiel striker Benedikt Pichler struck a close-range shot to kill off Magdeburg's hopes of an outright win and this took the game to penalties.
Kiel had the advantage of taking the first penalty each round in the shoot-out but unfortunately for them, young player Tom Rothe missed what ended up being the decisive penalty as Magdeburg completed one of the most hard-fought wins in the competition so far.
