Tuesday 3 March 2015 23:09, UK
Ciro Immobile scored twice in the second half to secure a 2-0 victory for Borussia Dortmund at Dynamo Dresden and secure their place in the quarter-finals of the German Cup.
The Italian has struggled for Bundesliga goals this season but he intercepted a cross-field pass from Dynamo's Michael Hefele to snatch the lead five minutes after the break on a bumpy pitch.
Dortmund struggled on the poor playing surface and Mats Hummels almost gifted third-tier Dynamo an equaliser when his back-pass bounced awkwardly and was intercepted, only for Mitch Langerak to make a crucial save.
Borussia substitute striker Adrian Ramos almost doubled the lead but his shot hit the post before rolling along the line and being cleared.
Jurgen Klopp’s side continued to press though and Immobile added a second when he slotted in from a Jakub Blaszczykowski cutback at the final whistle.
The only negative on the night for Dortmund was the loss of winger Marco Reus, who missed much of 2014 with a series of ankle injuries, after he was forced off midway through the first half.
"You cannot expect to play good football on a pitch like that," said Dortmund coach Juergen Klopp after a fifth straight victory in all competitions. "This pitch is quite something and we had to play very simple football on it."
In Tuesday’s other games, Bayer Leverkusen's Hakan Calhanoglu rescued his side from embarrassment with a stunning free-kick to help them to a 2-0 extra-time win over Kaiserslautern.
The Turkey international curled a shot around the wall and past goalkeeper Marius Mueller at the end of the first half of extra-time to break the visitors' resistance.
Stefan Kiessling then added a second goal to seal the victory after Leverkusen had struggled against their second-tier opposition.
Meanwhile, fellow Bundesliga club Hoffenheim had a much easier task against second division Aalen.
Eugen Polanski and Germany international Kevin Volland scored in their 2-0 win away from home, while Freiburg beat Cologne 2-1 to secure their place in the last-eight.
Holders Bayern Munich are in action on Wednesday against Eintracht Braunschweig.
