Berlin, Nov 2 (IANS) Record champions Bayern Munich suffered their fourth consecutive early exit from the German Cup after stubborn Saarbrucken came from behind to clinch a 2-1 last-gasp comeback win at the second round.
The Bavarians assumed control from the kick-off but couldn’t pose a threat to Saarbrucken’s well-positioned defence, Xinhua reports.
Bayern, however, opened the scoring after utilizing their first clearcut chance 14 minutes into the game when Thomas Muller had all time and space to drill the ball from 22 meters into the roof of the net.
Saarbrucken remained unimpressed and restored parity just before the break after Lukas Boeder dispossessed youngster Frans Kratzig near the penalty area, allowing Patrick Sontheimer to latch onto the subsequent cutback pass by Boeder.
After the interval, Bayern increased the pressure but Saarbrucken’s defence was able to keep the German giants at bay.
The visitors tried their luck with long-range efforts then, but Saarbrucken goalkeeper Tim Schreiber was equal to Leroy Sane’s hammer from 20 meters in the 50th minute. Sane remained in the thick of things but he still couldn’t beat Schreiber moments later from a tight angle.
Schreiber had his hands full of work in the closing stages as also Jamal Musiala and Serge Gnabry chanced it from the distance as well.
Just when everyone settled for the overtime, Saarbrucken stunned Bayern with the injury time winner after Tim Civeja’s square pass following a throw-in near the midfield allowed Marcel Gaus to beat Bayern goalie Manuel Neuer with a deflected shot from inside the box in the dying seconds of the injury time.
“It is sheer madness that we have won tonight. We had to do it within 90 minutes as we knew wouldn’t have enough power to make it through the overtime. We had to run and defend a lot. That’s why we went all-in in the last minutes. The team showed great will. I am so proud of the boys,” said Saarbrucken coach Rudiger Ziehl.
“We just weren’t smart enough. You must congratulate Saarbrucken on the battle here. If Bayern loses in Saarbrucken, then we have done a lot of things wrong,” said Bayern veteran Thomas Muller.
In the other matches, Bayer Leverkusen bounced back from two goals down and overpowered third division side Sandhausen 5-2, second division club Paderborn shocked Freiburg 3-1, Dortmund moved 1-0 past Hoffenheim, Eintracht Frankfurt downed third-tier Viktoria Cologne 2-0, and Mainz lost 3-0 to second division outfit Hertha Berlin.
–IANS
bc
