BERLIN, Dec 3: Ibrahim Maza’s first-half strike was enough for Bayer Leverkusen to knock Borussia Dortmund out of the German Cup with a 1-0 win in their third-round encounter on Tuesday.
Maza scored in the 34th minute after a team move from the back. Álex Grimaldo played the 20-year-old Algeria forward through, and though Waldemar Anton blocked Maza’s first effort, he curled the ball in with his second after beating Anton and another Dortmund defender to the ball.
Leverkusen’s Martin Terrier had a would-be goal ruled out for offside after a VAR check in the second half.Karim Adeyemi had two good chances for dominant Dortmund before the break, and the fans thought he’d scored in stoppage time, but it was only side netting with his header from a difficult angle.
“We had a score to settle,” said Maza, referring to Dortmund’s win in Leverkusen in the Bundesliga on Saturday.
Maza’s former team Hertha Berlin enjoyed a 6-1 rout of second-division rival Kaiserslautern, the beaten finalist in 2024, to stretch its winning run to seven games across all competitions. The goal it conceded was the first since its last defeat, a 3-2 loss at Bochum on Oct. 18.
The 16-year-old Kennet Eichhorn netted for Hertha to become the club’s youngest goalscorer.
Louis Oppie scored the winner for St. Pauli – which has lost its last nine Bundesliga games – to beat Borussia Mönchengladbach 2-1 away.Christoph Baumgartner scored twice as Leipzig, the 2022 and 2023 champion, enjoyed a 3-1 win at home over second division Magdeburg.
Fans across all the games stayed quiet for the first 12 minutes again to protest against German government proposals to increase security measures around games. The mooted changes include personalized tickets, increased surveillance including facial-recognition software and centralized stadium bans for alleged troublesome fans. The proposals were to be discussed at a three-day interior ministry conference starting Wednesday.
Bayern Munich and defending champion Stuttgart play Wednesday, at Union Berlin and Bochum, respectively. (PTI)
