German Cup: Borussia Dortmund survive scare; Leverkusen knocked out

Dortmund`s Norwegian forward Erling Braut Haaland (R) celebrates scoring with his team-mates during the German Cup (DFB Pokal) last 16 football match BVB Borussia Dortmund vs SC Paderborn in Dortmund, western Germany. Pic/AF

Borussia Dortmund survived late VAR drama to reach the quarterfinals of the German Cup, while Bayer Leverkusen was stunned by fourth-tier team Rot-Weiss Essen. Dortmund endured a nervy finale before Erling Haaland finally sealed a 3-2 win in extra time over second-division Paderborn on Tuesday.

The Norwegian thought he'd sealed the victory in normal time when he made it a 3-1 for Dortmund on a counterattack. But referee Tobias Stieler was alerted to a possible foul by Felix Passlack on Paderborn captain Sebastian Schonlau at the other end. Stieler consulted video replays and awarded the penalty.

Haaland's goal was duly chalked off and Paderborn forward Prince Osei Owusu equalized from the spot in the seventh minute of injury time to send the game to extra time. As if in defiance of the call, Haaland raced clear to score another goal in similar fashion to make it 3-2 in the fifth minute of extra time.

There was another lengthy delay for the next VAR check to see if the Norwegian had been offside. This time the goal was allowed, though Stieler felt the need to personally explain why to Paderborn coach Steffen Baumgart as it had been such a marginal call. It proved to be the winning goal.

Emre Can opened the scoring in the ninth minute when Paderborn's defense failed to deal with Jadon Sancho's corner. The ball kept coming back before falling kindly for Can to let fly with his left boot to score.

Haaland sent Sancho on his way to score Dortmund's second in the 16th and it looked like Dortmund would go on to another stroll after a 5-0 win over Duisburg and 2-0 win over Eintracht Braunschweig in the previous rounds.

But Paderborn improved and a mistake from goalkeeper Marwin Hitz allowed Julian Justvan to pull one back with just over 10 minutes of normal time remaining. Owusu's penalty sent it to extra time and Dortmund finished the match holding on for the final whistle as Justvan fired over with the last kick of the game.

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