Augsburg advance past Schalke, Karlsruhe eliminate Kickers Offenbach
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Coming off the back of a shock victory over Borussia Dortmund proved to be all the motivation Jess Thorup's troops needed tonight against a determined Schalke side. The 2.Bundesliga outfit gave it as good as they got, but not even the Royal Blues could stop the Alexis Claude-Maurice show as Augsburg sealed their place in the last 16 of the DfB Pokal.
The match-defining moment arrived in the 26th-minute as Augsburg broke the deadlock. Gouweleeuw found Claude-Maurice in a pocket of space on the edge of the box before he was forced out briefly. Onyeka slipped the pass into the Frenchman's path at the second time of asking which initiated the shot. The ball appeared to catch a clump of turf on its way to the net which took it over the outstretched hands of the unfortunate Heekeren in the Schalke goal.
Die Knappen ramped up their efforts after the interval with a neat chance afforded to Murkin who was denied by Finn Dahmen on a rare start for the goalkeeper this campaign. In fact, the German shot-stopper had to stoop and gather the ball from his net on 70 minutes, however the offside flag came to his rescue. Paul Seguin's cross was converted by Karaman, but the Turkish striker was clearly beyond the last defender.
The result was put beyond doubt on the 87th-minute as Arne Meier secured victory. Schalke's misfortune was epitomised in a matter of minutes as the strike caught Felipe Sanchez in the wall and wrong-footed Heerken completely. Samuel Essende chipped in on the action late on as Kömür played the one-two before the Congolese striker fired home from an offside position. With no VAR in operation, the goal stood and Augsburg advanced in style.
Kickers Offenbach 0 - Karlsruhe 2
Elsewhere, Regionalliga Südwest side Kickers Offenbach witnessed their cup aspirations dashed by a strong second-half performance from Karlsruhe. Although it remained scoreless at the break, Budu Zivzivadze punished the hosts just after the hour - Pfeiffer's pass fell to the Georgian who swivelled to drive his shot past Brinkies.
Eleven minutes later, the outcome was decided from a corner. Jung attempted to finish from the corner but his effort fell kindly for Marcel Beifuß. The 22-year-old composed himself before picking out the corner with a powerful right-footed finish.