Dortmund in seventh heaven
BERLIN: Borussia Dortmund ran riot on Wednesday as they demolished seconddivision Paderborn 7-1 to book their place in the third round of the German Cup.
With top scorer Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on the bench, right-winger Gonzalo Castro was Paderborn’s main tormentor with two goals and two assists in Dortmund’s biggest win of the season so far.
Paderborn took a shock lead through former Wolfsburg striker Srdjan Lakic after 21 minutes, but it lasted just four minutes as Thomas Tuchel’s team let the goals fly.
Colombia striker Adrian Ramos slotted home the hosts’ first, then set up Castro before Japan midfielder Shinji Kagawa netted just before the half-time whistle to make it 3-1 at the break.
Dortmund’s Germany midfielder Ilkay Gundogan then netted a penalty before Castro claimed their fifth.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan set up Lukasz Piszczek for a tap-in, then slammed home the seventh himself just before the final whistle.
This was the first defeat Paderborn’s new coach, former Germany international Stefan Effenberg, has suffered in his three games since taking charge.
“We’re happy with the amount of goals and chances we created,” said Dortmund coach Tuchel.
“The manner of the win was also pleasing and perhaps the early goal we conceded gave us the necessary sharpness and concentration.”
It was the highest score of the second round cup matches, which also saw Bayern Munich knock out holders Wolfsburg with a 3-1 away win on Tuesday.
Dortmund, who thrashed Augsburg 5-1 on Sunday, have now scored 61 goals this season in just 19 games and are second in the Bundesliga behind runaway leaders Bayern.
Meanwhile, Schalke suffered their second defeat in three days against Borussia Moenchengladbach as they bowed out of the cup with a 2-0 defeat in Gelsenkirchen.
Having lost 3-1 at Gladbach on Sunday in the league, the Royal Blues were beaten again as Lars Stindl pounced on a Joel Matip mistake to claim their first just before the break.
Belgium’s Thorgan Hazard, brother of Chelsea’s Eden, then slotted home a penalty to compound Schalke’s misery.
Nigeria striker Anthony Ujah broke the hearts of supporters of his former club Cologne to seal Werder Bremen’s 1-0 win at the Weserstadion.
Mexico striker Javier Hernandez has now scored five goals in just three games for Bayer Leverkusen as they romped to a 6-0 win at Viktoria Cologne.