Leipzig’s two-year reign as holder of the German Cup ended in the second round Tuesday in a 1-0 loss at Wolfsburg.
Wolfsburg, coached by Niko Kovac, who guided Eintracht Frankfurt to glory in this competition in 2018, took an early lead as Václav Černý scored off a pass from Tiago Tomas in the 14th minute – and Leipzig never recovered.
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Summer signing Cerny latched onto a perfectly-weighted pass by Tiago Tomas and unleashed an unstoppable left-footed drive into the roof of the net for his first goal of the season.
A red card for Leipzig forward Yussuf Poulsen for a second booking in the 56th minute set Leipzig on course for its first German Cup loss after 13 wins since defeat to Borussia Dortmund in the 2021 final.
Leipzig has reached the cup final in four of the last five seasons, winning the last two, and last exited the competition this early in a second-round loss on penalties to Bayern Munich in the 2017-18 season.
Wolfsburg have not made it beyond the quarter-finals since lifting the trophy in 2015.
Union Berlin’s miserable season continued as it was beaten 1-0 by Stuttgart for an 11th straight loss in all competitions, and its fourth game in a row without scoring. Stuttgart’s goal came when Union goalkeeper Frederik Rønnow parried Jamie Leweling’s shot straight to the feet of Deniz Undav to score.
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The German Cup was arguably Union’s last chance of success this season, as it has lost all three of its group-stage games so far in its first Champions League campaign and is 15th in the Bundesliga. The slump follows Union’s most successful season ever with a fourth-place finish in the league.
Fourth-tier Homburg upset second-division Greuther Fuerth 2-1 to reach the third round for the first time in 28 years.
Bayern, Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen all have second-round games scheduled Wednesday, though Bayern’s game is in doubt. Its third-tier opponent Saarbruecken has been working to get its field ready after its last league game Sunday had to be canceled because the playing surface was waterlogged.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – Associated Press)