Agency Report –
Leverkusen, Germany – Patrik Schick scored the equalizer deep into stoppage time and Victor Boniface got the winner as title holders Bayer Leverkusen fought from two goals down to beat second division Cologne 3-2 in extra time and reach the German Cup semi-finals on Wednesday.
Cologne seemed to be heading towards a huge upset in the western German derby match when Damian Downs opened the scoring late in the first half after some poor defending, and then fed Linton Maina for 2-0 in the 54th minute.
But Schick pulled one back in the 61st after being superbly set up by former Cologne academy player Florian Wirtz, and forced extra time with a header into the bottom left corner six minutes into stoppage time.
Attacking partner Boniface then beat a defender to a cross from the left by Alejandro Grimaldo, who had hit the crossbar in the first half, to volley home the winner in the 98th minute.
Cologne thought that they had levelled for 3-3 in the 111th from substitute Imad Rondic but the goal was nullified upon review because he was marginally offside.
“That’s the Cup, situations like these can happen there,” leverkusen’s managing director for sport Simon Rolfes told Sky TV.
Cologne goalkeeper Marvin Schwäbe told broadcasters ARD: “We can be very proud. Of course you want to win after leading 2-0. We knew it would be a huge task. We had to defend for a long time, you can see their quality.”
It was a lucky escape for Leverkusen who had also scored at the death on several occasions last season en route to a historic unbeaten Bundesliga and Cup double.
Cologne’s game plan of soaking up Leverkusen’s pressure and hitting them on the break worked well for large parts of the game before the brave second division leaders had to concede defeat against the holders who had beaten record Cup winners Bayern Munich in the previous round.
VfB Stuttgart beat Augsburg 1-0 in the first quarter-final on Tuesday.
The other games are third tier Arminia Bielefeld v Werder Bremen on February 25 and Leipzig v Wolfsburg the following day.
By Carsten Lappe
