Berlin, Feb. 9, (dpa/GNA) - Borussia Dortmund have made it to the German Cup quarter-finals with a 2-1 win at Bochum on Wednesday, while Nuremberg have reached the quarters for the first time since 2011 after they defeated Fortuna Düsseldorf 5-3 in the shoot-out, following a 1-1 draw.
Dortmund and Nuremberg now join VfB Stuttgart, Union Berlin, title holders RB Leipzig, Bayern Munich, Freiburg and Eintracht Frankfurt in the next round, with the draw for the matchups to take place on February 19.
Emre Can opened the scoring for Dortmund just before half-time thanks to a sloppy mistake by Bochum.
Keeper Manuel Riemann cleared the ball away from his area, but it ended up on Cam’s feet. Riemann was not in his position between the posts and Cam’s superb effort from the midfield found the net.
Bochum, however, returned for the second half determined to fight for the equalizer. Takuma Asano forced keeper Gregor Kobel to make a brilliant save in the 52nd and Antwi-Adjei went through one-on-one but failed to find the net just a minute later.
But their efforts were rewarded once Jamie Bynoe-Gittens was on the edge of the box when he touched the ball with his elbow. Bochum were awarded a penalty after video review and Kevin Stöger levelled things up in the 64th.
Dortmund showed a quick reaction when Jude Bellingham broke through the defence into the box and found an unmarked Marco Reus, who then guided the ball into the net in the 70th.
The hosts put up an intense pressure at the end of the game, but were not able to find a second equalizer.
“It wasn’t pretty today, but at the end, I think we deserved it,” Can told broadcasters Sky Sport, and admitted that he “didn’t hit the ball that well” for his goal.
Bochum midfielder Stöger was disappointed with the defeat, but said the team “can be happy with our performance. We can take a lot of positive things (from this match).”
Nuremberg, meanwhile, are the only second-division side left in the Cup after they came from behind to level the game with two minutes left in stoppage time and netted all of their penalties. Düsseldorf’s Jona Niemiec, who was making his professional debut, missed a decisive penalty for his side.
“We fought for a comeback in the last minute and were lucky in the shoot-out. We’re celebrating this one,” coach Markus Weinzierl said.
Düsseldorf top scorer Dawid Kownacki opened the scoring in the 33rd minute, but Nuremberg managed to find an equalizer in the final minutes of the game with Taylan Duman and forced the extra-time.
Düsseldorf had a major chance to take the lead back early in the extra-time, but Jorrit Hendrix’s effort was saved on the line in the 92nd and his free-kick hit the crossbar in the 105th.
Niemiec’s missed penalty then gave Nuremberg the upper hand and Erik Shuranov sealed the win for the Bavarians.
“We had plenty of chances to decide this game, it’s our own fault. We could have scored two, three, four goals,” Düsseldorf midfielder Christoph Klarer told Sky.
GNA