Cologne were on Wednesday knocked out of the DFB-Pokal by second-division side SSV Jahn Regensburg after throwing away an early two-goal lead to be eliminated at the last-16 stage, 4-3 on penalties.
Bundesliga side Cologne looked to be cruising into the last-eight with 21 minutes gone in the Bavarian town of Regensburg, thanks to goals from Ismail Jakobs and Emmanuel Dennis.
However, Canadian Scott Kennedy and Jann George replied to make sure that Jahn were level before the break, and then there followed another 75 minutes of attritional soccer before the two teams went to spot-kicks to decide the match.
Photo: Reuters
Again Cologne appeared to have the advantage when Andreas Albers missed the home side’s third penalty after five successful attempts in the shoot-out, but the top-flight outfit missed both of their subsequent kicks, allowing Albion Vrenezi and Max Besuschkow to net theirs and snatch the tie for Jahn.
In the evening’s other late match, Borussia Moenchengladbach came back from going behind to Silas Wamangituka’s second-minute opener to win at VfB Stuttgart 2-1 through goals from Marcus Thuram and Alassane Plea.
Earlier, RB Leipzig beat VfL Bochum 4-0 thanks to Amadou Haidara’s 10th-minute header, a penalty slammed home in first-half stoppage-time by Marcel Sabitzer, who had laid on the opener with a pinpoint cross, and Yussuf Poulsen’s second-half brace.
Wout Weghort’s 40th-minute strike, which came from the rebound of the Netherlands attacker’s own missed penalty, was enough for VfL Wolfsburg to squeeze past Schalke 04.
Christian Gross’ Schalke must turn their attention to what seems to be a doomed fight against relegation, as they sit rock-bottom in the Bundesliga with just one league win all season.
Wednesday’s matches completed the lineup for Sunday’s draw for the quarter-finals, which are to be played on March 2 and 3.
The four sides join Rot-Weiss Essen, after the fourth-division club continued their giant-killing run on Tuesday.
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