Dortmund shrug off slump with a big win
BERLIN: Defending champions Borussia Dortmund used the German Cup to bounce back from a recent dip in form by racking up a 5-0 win at Third Division Magdeburg in the second round.
Dortmund, who hadn’t won in three games across all competitions, attacked from the start on Tuesday with Maximilian Philipp striking the post and Alexander Isak drawing a good save from Alexander Brunst on the rebound.
The 17-year-old Isak, who was making his competitive debut for Dortmund, had better luck later on. The Swedish forward set up Gonzalo Castro for the opening goal before the break, and then sent a shot through Brunst’s legs to make it 2-0 just two minutes after the re-start.
A penalty from Andrey Yarmolenko wrapped up the result with a quarter of an hour remaining. Shinji Kagawa helped complete the rout, crossing for Marc Bartra to score with a header before claiming a goal for himself after combining well with Philipp.
“An early goal would have been more helpful, but even so we showed who the higher level team was,” said midfielder Nuri Sahin, who also rejected any suggestion of a Dortmund crisis.
“There was none. We’re leading the table in the Bundesliga and are now comfortably through (in the German Cup).”
Schalke 04 forward Franco Di Santo scored his first competitive goal for more than 18 months to set his side on the way to a 3-1 win at third-tier Wehen Wiesbaden.
The former Wigan and Werder Bremen forward, who has suffered injury problems since his last goal against FC Cologne in March 2016, netted from close range after 27 minutes.
Guido Burgstaller added a second three minutes later before Alf Mintzel put through his own goal in the 54th minute.
David Blacha scored Wiesbaden’s consolation late in the game.
Eintracht Frankfurt won 4-0 at fourth-tier FC Schweinfurt with Sebastian Haller scoring the first two goals.
Bayer Leverkusen thumped second-tier Union Berlin 4-1, while a second-half Thorgan Hazard goal gave Borussia Moenchengladbach a 1-0 win at Second Division leaders Fortuna Duesseldorf. — Agencies