Sawt Falasteen - Last-gasp Sabitzer strike sends Dortmund past Bremen in German Cup

With the hosts two goals up thanks to goals from Serhou Guirassy and Carney Chukwuemeka, former Dortmund striker Niclas Fuellkrug came off the bench and scored twice in four minutes to level the scores.

With the match headed for extra-time, the one-time Bayern Munich and Manchester United midfielder Sabitzer curled a superb free kick into the top left corner to see Dortmund through to the next round.

"I'm really happy it went in. My right foot has always been pretty decent. It's good for the team, but also good for me," Sabitzer told Sky Germany.

On a season-long loan from West Ham, Fuellkrug has now scored in his past seven Bremen games and has 11 goals in nine matches this season, having scored just three times in 18 months at the London stadium.

Earlier on Tuesday, Christoph Baumgartner scored twice in the final 12 minutes to rescue a 10-man RB Leipzig in a 2-1 win at third-division Rot-Weiss Essen.

Essen's Lucas Brumme gave the hosts the lead after nine minutes and Leipzig's task got harder just before half-time when Nicolas Seiwald picked up a second yellow card.

Leipzig, who won the competition back-to-back in 2022 and 2023, were on track for an early elimination until Baumgartner scored two goals inside five minutes.

The night before the match, Essen fans had concreted over the away fan entrance, with city authorities in a race against time to clear the entrance before kick-off.

Robin Koch, Jonathan Burkardt and Younes Ebnoutalib scored as Eintracht Frankfurt cruised to a 3-1 win at three-time winners Hamburg.

Germany starlet Said El Mala scored a brace as hosts Cologne eliminated Union Berlin 5-0.

Elsewhere, Bundesliga sides Mainz and Elversberg also bit the dust, losing to Bochum and Darmstadt respectively, while Augsburg and Borussia Moenchengladbach won to reach the last 16.

On Wednesday, holders Bayern host Magdeburg in Harry Kane's first match since winning the Ballon d'Or on Monday.

Z.Ramadan--SF-PST