News (engl.)

Arminia Bielefeld shocked Bundesliga side 1. FC Union Berlin with a 2-0 win in the final batch of second-round ties, becoming the only 3. Liga side through the round of 16. They are joined by record winners FC Bayern München after their commanding 4-0 win over 1. FSV Mainz 05, another Bundesliga side TSG Hoffenheim, who beat second-tier 1. FC Nürnberg 2-1, and 2. Bundesliga outfit SV Darmstadt 98, who needed extra time to secure a 3-2 victory over third-tier Dynamo Dresden.

Union Berlin were on the back foot early in Bielefeld, with a mistake at the back opening the door for Marius Wörl to fire into the empty net from a good 35 yards out and put the underdogs 1-0 up inside 12 minutes. The visitors were denied by the woodwork twice before the break as they looked to get back level, with Rani Khedira hitting the crossbar (28’) and András Schäfer heading onto the post (45+3’). Union upped the pressure after the break but struggled to create meaningful chances, and instead were caught on the break by André Becker, who wrapped up the 2-0 win for the third-tier hosts after 71 minutes.

FC Bayern meant business as they looked to avoid a repeat of last season’s shock second-round exit to Saarbrücken. Brilliant interplay between Harry Kane and Jamal Musiala saw the latter put the record champions 1-0 up against Mainz 05 after just two minutes, and the Germany international added his second with a header in the 37th minute. After missing a couple of decent chances Leroy Sané finally got his goal in first-half stoppage time to make it three (45+1’), and there was even time for Musiala to complete his hat-trick to make it 4-0 (45+4’), meaning Bayern could afford to take their foot off the gas in the second half.

Late drama in Dresden

After an even opening half an hour in Sinsheim, Haris Tabakovic finally broke the deadlock for Hoffenheim following a scrappy corner in the 27th minute. Nürnberg created some promising opportunities to strike back, but were initially unable to find their way past Oliver Baumann in the TSG goal. That changed shortly after the restart though, when Julian Justvan perfectly played in Mahir Emreli, who kept his cool to slot in an equaliser for Miroslav Klose’s side (47’). Both teams had chances to grab the winner, but it was another Hoffenheim corner kick that decided the game, this time with Arthur Chaves heading home at the near post in the 71st minute to secure a narrow 2-1 win.

Dynamo and Darmstadt put on a proper cup fight in the Rudolf-Harbig-Stadion, although in the first half, the closest either side came to scoring was an attempted clearance by Dresden’s Robin Meißner that hit his own crossbar (45’). Things certainly picked up after the change of ends, with Aleksandar Vukotic heading in the opener for the away side in the 56th minute. The closing stages were full of drama. First Dynamo levelled things at 1-1 through Jakob Lemmer’s header (85’), only for Tobias Kempe to seemingly send Darmstadt through with a 92nd-minute penalty. However, an unstoppable rocket in the 11th minute of stoppage time by super-sub Lemmer forced extra time. It was there, though, that Dresden’s valiant cup fight ran out of steam, as Isac Lidberg grabbed the all-important winner in the 98th minute to send the Lilies through.