Lacklustre Bayern struggle to beat fourth-tier minnows
BERLIN: Fourth-tier part-timers SV Roedinghausen made mighty Bayern Munich work for a 2-1 away win in the second round of the German Cup on Tuesday.
It was a poor performance from reigning Bundesliga champions Bayern who looked to be in control after early goals from Sandro Wagner and Thomas Mueller but were left hanging on after Linus Meyer pulled one back for the underdogs early in the second half.
“We have got through but everyone needs to think about their performance here,” said Mueller. “We played well for the first 20 minutes, but then we made a lot of mistakes and became nervous.”
Bayern were awarded two penalties early on after Renato Sanches set up Wagner to open the scoring. Mueller converted the first spot kick before Sanches fired his against the crossbar.
The hosts cut the deficit four minutes after the restart with Linus Meyer beating Rafinha to connect with a cross as the home crowd erupted in wild celebrations but there was ultimately no fairytale for the hosts.
Fellow Bundesliga clubs Hertha Berlin and VfL Wolfsburg also advanced by beating Darmstadt 98 and Hanover 96 2-0 respectively.
Elsewhere fourth-tier Ulm, who knocked out holders Eintracht Frankfurt in the first round, bowed out after being thumped 5-1 at home by Bundesliga strugglers Fortuna Duesseldorf.
Also, Brazilian midfielder Caiuby scored in extra time to give Augsburg a 3-2 come-from-behind win over Bundesliga rivals Mainz 05.
Published in Dawn, November 1st, 2018