Salomon Kalou’s missed spot-kick put hosts Borussia Dortmund into the DFB Pokal quarter-finals on Wednesday as Hertha BSC lost 3-2 on penalties after a 1-1 draw.
The Ivory Coast striker gave Hertha a first-half lead in the third-round clash in Dortmund when he volleyed home on 27 minutes after the hosts made a slow start, but Dortmund raised the pace as Marco Reus equalized straight after the break, while Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had a goal disallowed and Ousmane Dembele fired wide.
Dortmund kept up the pressure as the game went into extra-time.
Photo: AP
However, they finished with 10 men when defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos was sent off in the 119th minute for dissent — just before the final whistle — as his backchat earned him two yellow cards in quick succession.
In the shoot-out, goalkeeper Roman Buerki was Dortmund’s hero.
He saved Hertha’s second penalty from Vladimir Darida and stopped Sami Allagui’s fourth, although unluckily for Buerki the ball still rolled into the net, but Kalou blasted his effort over the bar to send Dortmund through.
Before kickoff, Dortmund captain Marcel Schmelzer addressed the home fans to criticize hooligans who attacked RB Leipzig supporters, including families, before last Saturday’s Bundesliga game.
The violence has shocked Germany.
“We as players were, and are, very shocked at what happened,” Schmelzer said in a video message. “On Saturday, people were harmed and we condemn that as a team.”
Eintracht Frankfurt also reached the quarter-finals with a 2-1 win at second-tier Hannover 96 with goals from defender Taleb Tawatha and striker Haris Seferovic.
Schalke 04 saw off second-tier SV Sandhausen 1916 $-1 thanks to three goals in a seven-minute spell from Alessandro Schoepf, Daniel Caligiuri and Naldo.
Third-tier VfL Sportfreunde Lotte, from near Osnabrueck, continued their giant-killing run with a 2-0 win at home to second-tier 1860 Munich.
Heavy snow had threatened to delay the kickoff, but goals by midfielder Jaroslaw Lindner and striker Kevin Freiberger sealed the win.
It was another scalp for Lotte having already beaten top-tier Werder Bremen and Bayer 04 Leverkusen.
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