Bayer Leverkusen dumped out of German Cup by third tier Lotte
Leverkusen's run of bad form continues after being knocked out of the German Cup on penalties by third division side Sportfreunde Lotte.
Leverkusen fall to giant-killers Lotte
Bayer Leverkusen squandered the lead not once but twice on Tuesday night as they were dumped out of the second round of the German Cup by third division side Sportfreunde Lotte on Tuesday evening.
Lotte were down to 10 men from the 79th minute with the score at 1-1 but they refused to buckle and snatched a memorable victory on penalties after the game had finished 2-2 following extra time.
Leverkusen's bad run of form continues
Champions league side Leverkusen, who have slipped to 11th after losing their last two Bundesliga matches, were favourites to beat Lotte, who knocked out Werder Bremen in the first round. With coach Roger Schmidt banned for two matches following a verbal attack on his Hoffenheim counterpart in their 3-0 home league loss at the weekend, Leverkusen struck after 26 minutes when Kevin Volland fired home under pressure from two defenders.
The visitors were lucky to keep the lead when a Lotte effort was controversially ruled offside minutes later but the hosts scored soon after the break when Leverkusen's Roberto Hilbert, completely alone, deflected a harmless cross into his own goal. Lotte's Tim Wendel was then sent off before Volland struck again in the first half of extra time with a close-range volley.
The home side refused to give up, however, and got back on level terms once again through Kevin Freiberger's equaliser before keeping their cool to claim a famous victory in the penalty shootout.