Leverkusen taken to the brink in German Cup

Three minutes into Bayer Leverkusen's German Cup away match against fourth-league side Magdeburg, Hakan Calhanoglu put the Champions League contenders ahead against what is normally a blip on the German football landscape. It was the beginning of a long night for Magdeburg, but not the kind that anyone had envisioned.

Following Calhanoglu's goal, Leverkusen were shown up by the underdogs from Magdeburg for the better part of two hours. The equalizer came from Christoph Siefkes in the 28th minute, and the match remained tied at 1-1 until the end of regular time. In the meantime, Leverkusen's Heung-Min Son didn't do his team any favors by getting sent off in the 78th minute.

Magdeburg took the lead briefly in the 111th minute on a goal from Niklas Brandt to the elation of the home crowd. Leverkusen, finally remembering that they were in contention for the Champions League, equalized five minute later on a header from Kyriakos Papadopoulos, and the teams headed to penalties a few minutes later.

Leno saves Leverkusen

Jan Glinker, Magdeburg's keeper, started the penalty round on the right foot by blocking Leverkusen's first offering from Emir Spahic. Magdeburg held the advantage and were twice in a position to decide the game, but Leverkusen keeper Bernd Leno kept his nerves against Nicolas Hebisch and Brandt. After five rounds, the tally was 3-3.

After a goal from each side, Leverkusen's Tin Jedvaj gave the guests a goal advantage, and it was Leno who secured the nail-biting win for Leverkusen by saving Magdeburg's final penalty attempt from Lars Fuchs. The final score was 5-4 after penalties for Leverkusen.

"We don't have to be ashamed of this win," Leverkusensporting director Rudi Völler said. "After the red card, we made it through by playing with a lot of heart. You always want to score an early goal, but this time it didn't really help us."

Leipzig score late to beat Aue

Leverkusen and Magdeburg weren't the only teams to take their match into extra time. RB Leipzig hosted Erzgebirge Aue in a derby match between two second-league sides and took a full 120 minutes to decide the contest.

Leipzig went down 1-0 after 20 minutes on an own-goal from Lukas Klostermann. Aue looked as if they would give the hosts their first home loss of the season, but Leipzig found a prayer in the 90th minute in Yussuf Poulson, who equalized and sent the game to extra time.

The extra 30 was exactly what Leipzig needed: Goals on either side of the break from Dominik Kaiser and Terrance Boyd wrapped up the match for Leipzig 3-1.

Rounding out the early matches on Wednesday, Freiburg came back from an early deficit to demolish second-league side 1860 Munich 5-2, and Braunschweig from the second league scored once the second half to end the German Cup for the Würzburg Kickers.

Hamburg and Eintracht sent packing

The late games on Wednesday featured clashes between top-flight teams, meaning someone from the Bundesliga was going to be eliminated.

Hamburg stood the least chance despite the home field advantage against Bayern Munich. The guests under Pep Guardiola surprised no one by beating Hamburg 3-1 on goals from Robert Lewandowski, David Alaba and Franck Ribery.

Eintracht Frankfurt found the back of the net to late in the game to make any difference against Borussia Mönchengladbach, who had a 2-0 lead going into the 89th minute when substitute Vaclav Kadlec pulled one back for the hosts.

Hoffenheim mopped the floor with the second league's FSV Frankfurt, and Wolfsburg's win over second division Heidenheim was nearly as lopsided. Luiz Gustavo scored two on the way to the Wolves 4-1 win.