Bayern, Leverkusen advance into German Cup quarters

Berlin, Dec 5 (IANS) The Bundesliga first division teams grabbed the last four tickets for the German Cup quarterfinals Wednesday.

Cup holders Bayern defeated Augsburg 2-0 at the Bavarian derby, Leverkusen and Wolfsburg recorded late victories whereas Frankfurt downed Ingolstadt 4-2 to reach the quarterfinals, reported Xinhua.

Pep Guardiola's squad made another step towards the German Cup title defence due to their hard earned 2-0 win against Augsburg. It was an expensive triumph for the Bayern as they lost Arjen Robben to an injury. 

Nonetheless, it was the Dutchman, who marked the opener with the first chance of the match following a rebound from close range with four minutes on the clock. Thirteen minutes later, Thomas Mueller replaced injured Robben, whose right knee suffered a cut following a tackle with goalkeeper Marwin Hitz. 

The replacement disrupted Bayern rhythm therefore they had to be patient until the 78th minute before Mueller headed home the 2-0 lead to kill the game against hapless Augsburg. 

Leverkusen's Emre Can smoothed the next round for his side thanks to his 2-1 winner at Freiburg in an entertaining encounter. The Werkself staged a clinical performance and opened the scoring with just one minute into the game. Freiburg restored parity but failed to respond to Can's late goal at the 77th minute. 

The visitors shocked dozy Freiburg with a quick start as Robbie Kruse broke the deadlock at the first minute. Nicolas Hoefler's poor clearance attempt was intercepted by Kruse who slotted home from 13 meters at the inside right into the far post corner. 

As the match progressed Leverkusen retracted allowing Freiburg to restore parity, as Matthias Ginter headed home Vladimir Darida's pinpoint cross inside the box at the 19th minute. 

However, Emre Can destroyed all hopes by Freiburg when he overcame goalkeeper Oliver Sorg with a low shot from 20 meters to put the result beyond doubt at the 77th minute. 

Wolfsburg avoided an upset against second division side Ingolstadt as substitute Ivica Olic handed the 2-1 winner to secure the next round. The Wolves also had to thank Ingolstadt's custodian Ramazan Oezcan, whose two moments of madness invited the hosts to score twice. 

The hosts controlled the proceedings on the pitch but yet it were Ingolstadt that broke the deadlock by courtesy of Caiuby, who made use of a pass into path to beat Wolfsburgs Diego Benaglio into the near post corner at the 19th minute. 

The Wolves lacked in penetration but after all they levelled the scores as Naldo's long-range effort slipped through Oezcan's fingers at the 67th minute. Keeper Oezcan was again in the thick of things when he parried an effort into the path of substitute Ivica Olic, who had no problems to wrap up quarterfinals one minute before final whistle. 

Elsewhere, Frankfurt sealed a hard earned berth for the next round when they edged second division side Sandhausen 4-2 on home soil.