German Cup 2016: Final Scores, Results from Tuesday's Quarter-Finals
Borussia Dortmund and Werder Bremen advanced to the semi-finals of this season's German Cup—or the DFB-Pokal—on Tuesday evening after each booking 3-1 wins at Stuttgart and Bayer Leverkusen, respectively.
Marco Reus, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored for the Black and Yellows to overcome a Lukas Rupp equaliser and lead their side to a 3-1 win at the Mercedes-Benz Arena. The win means Dortmund have now made the German Cup semis for a third year in succession.
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Werder went down early after a Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez penalty set them back, but the men from Bremen hit back with three goals through Santi Garcia, Claudio Pizarro and Florian Grillitsch, helped by the first-half sending off of Leverkusen's Wendell.
This year marks the first time Werder Bremen have made it to the last four of the DFB-Pokal since 2010 and their first win away to Bayer Leverkusen since 2008.
Read on as we provide full recap of Tuesday evening's German Cup action as Borussia Dortmund and Werder Bremen made their way through to the next stage of the competition.
| Bayer Leverkusen | 1-3 | Werder Bremen |
| Stuttgart | 1-3 | Borussia Dortmund |
Recap
A portion of Dortmund's fans were absent for Reus' fifth-minute opener, choosing to boycott the opening 20 minutes of the match in response to the inflated €70 cost of 25 per cent of the tickets sold, per ESPN FC's Stephan Uersfeld.
"Rolls" Reus managed to get to the back post just in time as he directed a pinpoint poke past Stuttgart No. 1 and former Dortmund stopper Mitchell Langerak for the early breakthrough.
The boycotting fans timed their return poorly, however, and BT Sport reporter Archie Rhind-Tutt confirmed Rupp's 21st-minute equaliser just after those abstaining supporters would have entered the Mercedes-Benz Arena:
Their protest didn't end there, though, and BT Sport provided images as the Dortmund supporters bombarded the pitch with tennis balls in a show of defiance to the up-market ticket prices:
Reus turned into an architect in the 30th minute to tee up Aubameyang, but it was very much a goal of the Gabon international's own making as he lashed home his 30th strike of the season from outside the box.
Aubameyang himself then took on the role of puppeteer to set Mkhitaryan up a late finish in the 89th minute, meaning the Armenian has still scored in every round of this season's DFB-Pokal.
Earlier on Tuesday, Werder Bremen responded well after Chicharito stepped up to convert a 22nd-minute penalty, and it took Garcia just nine minutes to equalise before a red card for Wendell compounded Leverkusen's misery.
Fin Bartels was through on goal after rounding German stopper Bernd Leno, but Bundesliga Fanatic believed a straight red was a harsh decision on left-back Wendell:
Nevertheless, Pizarro took up to slot home the resulting penalty just before the half-time whistle, buoying the visitors just as they went in at the interval.
An uneasy one-goal lead at times looked precarious for Werder. But Grillitsch added a decisive third eight minutes from time to seal the win, and Garcia called his side's display a "top performance":
Werder came to the BayArena on Tuesday having lost three of their last four trips to face Bayer Leverkusen, and this midweek triumph will serve as sweet revenge for a winless run at the venue stretching back eight years.
Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich travel to face Bochum on Wednesday with Hertha Berlin set to play Heidenheim at the Voith-Arena, but only two places are left in this season's DFB-Pokal semi-finals.
