BERLIN: Bayer Leverkusen twice squandered the lead before crashing out of the German Cup second round 4-3 on penalties at third-tier Sportfreunde Lotte on Tuesday to become the biggest casualty of the night.
Lotte were down to 10 men from the 79th minute with the score at 1-1 but they refused to buckle and snatched a memorable victory over top flight Leverkusen after the game finished 2-2 following extra time.
Leverkusen were booed by their own fans while director of sport Rudi Voeller was left fuming.
“This can’t be surpassed in terms of stupidity,” he said.
Kevin Volland’s two goals for Leverkusen were cancelled out by an own goal from Roberto Hilbert and Kevin Freiberger’s equaliser for Lotte in the 106th minute.
In the shoot-out, Chile’s Charles Aranguiz, Volland and Austria’s Julian Baumgartlinger missed penalties for Leverkusen.
Freiburg were another Bundesliga club to crash out on penalties when they lost 4-3 at home to second-division Sandhausen following a 3-3 draw but Hertha Berlin, Hamburger SV and Borussia Moenchengladbach had no problems against lower-league opposition.
Hamburg, without a win in the Bundesliga this season, got a boost from their 4-0 demolition of third division Hallescher FC with striker Bobby Wood netting twice.
Hertha advanced with a 2-0 win over St Pauli while Gladbach found little resistance as they beat second division VfB Stuttgart by the same score, Fabian Johnson netting once and setting up the other for Lars Stindl.
In an all-Bundesliga clash, Eintracht Frankfurt overcame Ingolstadt 04 4-1 on penalties after they finished goalless following extra time.
Published in Dawn October 27th, 2016
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