Akin Ayomide
Bayer Leverkusen have knocked Borussia Dortmund out in the last 16 of the German Cup, Ibrahim Maza scoring the only goal in a 1-0 away win on Tuesday.
Maza’s 34th-minute strike put the 2024 cup winners on track for victory and take out instant revenge on Dortmund, who beat them 2-1 in their own backyard in the Bundesliga three days ago.
Leverkusen will be joined in the quarter-finals by RB Leipzig, who beat Magdeburg 3-1 at home, along with Hertha Berlin and St Pauli, who won earlier on Tuesday.
Bundesliga heavyweights Dortmund and Leverkusen had met 109 times in all competitions dating back to the early 1950s but had never faced off in the German Cup.
Dortmund had an early penalty shout waved away when former Liverpool defender Jarell Quansah felled Carney Chukwuemeka inside the box.
A goalscorer in Leverkusen’s shock 2-0 Champions League win at Manchester City, the 20-year-old Maza danced through some sleepy Dortmund defense to blast his side in front.
Leverkusen scored again on the hour mark through Martin Terrier in a move started by Maza, but the goal was chalked off for a narrow offside.
Dortmund’s Karim Adeyemi had a chance to level deep into stoppage time, but he headed inches wide of the post.
Elsewhere, Christoph Baumgartner scored twice as RB Leipzig came from a goal down to beat lowly Magdeburg.
Magdeburg, sitting dead last in the second division, took an early lead through a Silas Gnaka penalty.
Leipzig hit back with a long-range rocket from Antonio Nusa and led 2-1 at halftime after Baumgartner scored.
Assisted by Nusa, Baumgartner scored again early in the second-half to see the two-time cup winners through.
Earlier on Tuesday, St Pauli broke out of their recent Bundesliga funk to win 2-1 at three-time winners Borussia Moenchengladbach.
Pauli had lost their last nine league matches but goals from Martijn Kaars and Louis Oppie either side of a header from Gladbach’s Haris Tabakovic had the Hamburg-based side marching into the final eight.
In the German capital, Hertha Berlin thumped 2024 finalists Kaiserslautern 6-1, with 16-year-old Kennet Eichhorn becoming the youngest goalscorer in the competition’s history.
Bayern Munich, winners a record 20 times, play at Union Berlin on Wednesday while holders Stuttgart are away at Bochum.