Big sides out

There was disappointment for three top flight Bundesliga sides - Cologne, Wolfsburg and Frankfurt - who all went out of the German Cup to second division opposition on Wednesday evening.

Wolfsburg exited Germany's main soccer cup competition after a defeat to visitors Energie Cottbus, piling pressure on club coach Steve McClaren.

Cottbus were 3-0 up against the Wolves by half time, thanks to goals from Nils Petersen and  Jiayi Shao.

Peterson opened the scoring, heading the ball in from a corner kick to leave Wolfsburg visibly shocked. There were further chances for Cottbus, and the visitors were able to make the pressure count with Shao's goal on 40 minutes and a second for Germany Under-21 player Petersen on 43 minutes.

Wolfsburg attempted a comeback in the second half, but were only able to manage a consolation goal through Edin Dzeko in the 56th minute, and the game ended 3-1.

After eight games without a win, former England manager McClaren's future with the club is in doubt. "It was just not good enough today; it was not good enough throughout the whole first half of the season," McClaren said after the match. "I am disappointed and frustrated."

Duisburg and Aachen go through

Cologne also fell prey to an early goal when Stefan Maierhofer gave Duisburg's "Zebras" the lead after just three minutes, scoring from a corner.

Julian Koch headed in a second for the visitors in the 76th minute and, despite considerable pressure, Cologne were only able to pull back one goal when a fierce shot from youngster Simon Terrode on 84 minutes found its way across the line.

Alemannia Aachen's match against Eintracht Frankfurt was settled with a penalty shoot-out after extra time ended in a 1-1 draw, the goals scored by Aachen's Marco Hoeger and Frankfurt's Martin Fenin.

Visitors Frankfurt missed once from the spot, while Aachen were able to convert all of their penalties, propelling them into the final eight of the contest.

Bayern enjoy best of goalfest

Football fans watching Stuttgart take on Bayern Munich had the most eventful of the evening's entertainment, with nine goals scored in total.

Bayern had already notched up a two-goal lead eight minutes into the game, thanks to Andreas Ottl and Mario Gomez. Russian Pavel Pogrebnyak narrowed that lead on 31 minutes and leveled the score with his second, just before the half-time whistle.

Returning after a 10-week injury layoff, substitute Miroslav Klose slotted the ball home on 52 minutes after a defensive error by Stuttgart captain Matthias Delpierre.

Stuttgart went down to ten men soon afterwards with a second booking for Khalid Boulahrouz. There was further bad news for the side when a penalty against Bayern, taken by Christian Gentner was saved by keeper Hans-Joerg Butt.

Delpierre, who himself was sent off three minutes from the end of the match, equalized on 77 minutes with a header.

However, Bayern were to have the final say with goals from Thomas Mueller and Franck Ribery, plus a second for Klose, making the final score 6-3.

Draw made for the next round

With two games in the last 16 postponed because of poor weather, the draw was made late on Wednesday evening for the quarter-final stage of the competition.

In the ties, Energie Cottbus play host to Hoffenheim while Alemannia Aachen are at home to Bayern Munich. The victors of the postponed Koblenz - Kaiserslautern match will head to Duisburg.

Schalke, meanwhile, drew the winner of the postponed Offenbach versus Nuremberg tie. The venue will be determined by which team wins, as German Cup rules guarantee home advantage to clubs outside the professional divisions, like Offenbach.

Author: Richard Connor (AP, dpa, Reuters)
Editor: Matt Hermann