Borussia Dortmund’s Ciro Immobile struck twice in the second half to secure a 2-0 victory at third-tier SG Dynamo Dresden and a place in the DFB Pokal quarter-finals on Tuesday.
The Italian, criticized for a lack of German Bundesliga goals this season, pounced on a cross-field pass from Dynamo’s Michael Hefele to snatch the lead five minutes after the break on a bumpy pitch that resembled a ploughed field in parts.
Dortmund, last season’s finalists, struggled to play the flowing game that has won their previous four league matches and Mats Hummels almost gifted Dynamo an equalizer when his back-pass bounced awkwardly and was intercepted before ’keeper Mitch Langerak cleared.
Photo: Reuters
“You cannot expect to play good football on a pitch like that,” Dortmund coach Juergen Klopp told reporters. “This pitch is quite something and we had to play very simple football on it.”
Dortmund’s substitute striker Adrian Ramos almost got a second, but his shot squeezed past a defender and hit the near post before rolling along the line and being cleared.
However, Immobile, who suffered a facial injury in the first half from Hefele’s elbow, scored again when he slotted in from a Jakub Blaszczykowski cutback in the box near the final whistle.
Dortmund winger Marco Reus, who missed much of last season with a string of ankle injuries, limped off midway through the first half, though his injury might not be too serious.
“I was told it may just be a knock on the leg, but I don’t know if he will be fit for the league at the weekend,” Klopp said.
Earlier, Bayer 04 Leverkusen’s Hakan Calhanoglu rescued his side from embarrassment with a sensational free-kick to steer them to a 2-0 extra-time win over second-tier Kaiserslautern.
The Turkey international fired a long-range shot around the wall past goalkeeper Marius Mueller toward the end of the first half of extra-time to break the visitors’ resistance.
Stefan Kiessling added a second goal 10 minutes later after Leverkusen struggled for most of the game.
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim had a much easier task against second division VfR Aalen with Eugen Polanski and Germany international Kevin Volland scoring.
In the all-Bundesliga clash, SC Freiburg got two goals in two minutes early in the first half to win 2-1 at home against Cologne. An Anthony Ujah own-goal and a neat finish by Vladimir Darida put the hosts 2-0 up, before Deyverson netted a late consolation for the visitors.
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