LONDON: On a busy day of domestic cup action across Europe on Tuesday, Bayern Munich and Inter Milan punched their tickets to the quarter-finals.

Bayern, top of the Bundesliga and through to the knockout stage of the Champions League, needed a long-range goal from Spaniard Xabi Alonso to secure a 1-0 victory over Darmstadt 98 that put them into the German Cup last eight.

Rodrigo Palacio, Marcelo Brozovic, and Ivan Perisic scored as Serie A leaders Inter cruised into the quarter-finals of the Italian Cup with a 3-0 win over second tier Cagliari.

In Spain, Sevilla, Espanyol, Real Betis and Deportivo La Coruna all advanced to the last 16 of the Copa Del Rey to join already-qualified Barcelona and Cadiz.

Elsewhere on Tuesday, Lille continued their resurgence under new boss Frederic Antonetti as they reached the quarter-finals of the French League Cup with a 1-0 win over second-tier Laval.

ALONSO THUNDERBOLT

Bayern laboured to overcome a well-organised Darmstadt, and did not create many chances against the Bundesliga newcomers at Munich’s Allianz Arena.

Alonso eventually made the breakthrough when he launched a spectacular strike from outside the area which hit the top left-hand corner and gave Darmstadt goalkeeper Christian Mathenia no chance five minutes before the break.

“Even I wouldn’t have tried to pull that one off,” said Bayern’s impressed Germany striker Thomas Mueller when asked about Alonso’s strike.

Werder Bremen, struggling in the Bundesliga, came from a goal down to beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 4-3 with Peruvian veteran Claudio Pizarro scoring one goal and setting up another.

Fellow Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen also staged a comeback to beat fourth division Unterhaching 3-1 while second-division Heidenheim beat third-tier Erzgebirge Aue 2-0 to make it to the quarter-finals for the first time.

ALESSANDRIA SHOCK GENOA

Palacio’s close-range tap-in opened the scoring on 24 minutes for Inter at the San Siro and Brozovic all but sealed the match with 20 minutes to go with a stunning strike from outside the area into the far corner.

Perisic came off the bench in the latter stages and completed the scoring with a fine individual effort of his own nine minutes from time to set up a quarterfinal against Napoli or Hellas Verona.

Alessandria became the first third tier club to reach the Italian Cup quarter-finals in more than 30 years as their giant-killing run continued with a 2-1 extra-time victory at Serie A strugglers Genoa.

Alessandria, who beat another top-flight side — Palermo — in the previous round, will face either Roma or Spezia after Manuel Marras scored the opener and set up Riccardo Bocalon’s 114th-minute winner.

WOLFSWINKEL DOUBLE

Ricky van Wolfswinkel scored twice in a pulsating 3-3 draw at Sporting Gijon as Betis booked a place in the Copa del Rey last 16 with a 5-3 aggregate victory.

It was a spirited performance in the return match from Gijon, who had lost the first leg 2-0, especially in the second half with substitute Alen Halilovic grabbing a double, including a penalty.

Deportivo held on to a 1-1 home draw against second-division Llagostera to advance 3-2 on aggregate while Ciro Immobile and Jose Antonio Reyes gave Sevilla a comfortable 2-0 win over Logrones, cruising into the next round 5-0 on aggregate.

Burgui and Felipe Caicedo netted as Espanyol came from behind after a Verza opener to beat Levante 2-1 and win 3-2 overall.

LILLE ADVANCE

Djibril Sidibe struck 11 minutes from time at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy to send the Ligue 1 side through the quarter-finals of the French League Cup and extend Lille’s winning run to four matches in all competitions.

Guingamp twice recovered from a goal down at home to Nice as Yannis Salibur netted at the end of normal time and again in extra time, cancelling out a pair of strikes from Alexandre Mendy, before converting the decisive penalty in a 4-3 shootout victory following a 2-2 draw after 120 minutes.

Wissam Ben Yedder grabbed a brace for Toulouse in a 3-1 win at 10-man Rennes, while Lorient eased past Ligue 2 leaders Dijon 3-0 with goals from Benjamin Jeannot, Romain Philippoteaux and Walid Mesloub.

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2015