Despite falling behind to fourth-tier Unterhaching, Bayer Leverkusen came back to score three unanswered goals to book their place in the DFB-Pokal quarter-finals.
Both sides remained largely unchanged from their weekend games. Alexander Sieghart came in for Dominic Reisner following Unterhaching's 1-0 defeat to Wacker Burghausen. Leverkusen, who won 5-0 against Borussia Mönchengladbach on Saturday, replaced the injured Roberto Hilbert with Giulio Donati. Admir Mehmedi also started, with Hakan Calhanoglu rested.
Interesting opening
After a 15 minute delay - due to traffic - both sides came out of the traps ready and raring to go. Sieghart looked particularly promising when tasked with running the right wing, constantly causing problems for Wendell. At the other end, Stefan Marinovic was forced into an early save as he palmed over Mehmedi's effort. Stefan Kießling passed up an even greater chance moments later, firing over from Donati's cross.
Javier Hernandez was next to trouble the home defence, bringing a desperate clearance from the Unterhaching back-line. The Bundesliga side were now dominating possession, though that didn't dishearten 'Haching, as Jonathan Tah was forced to make a last-ditch intervention on Markus Einsiedler.
Einsiedler very nearly shocked the BayArena outfit midway through the half, as a bobbling ball was looped over the advancing Bernd Leno by the forward. Thankfully for Leverkusen, Admir Mehmedi was on hand to clear the shot off the line.
Two goals in four minutes
That turned out to be only momentary respite, as Unterhaching took a shock lead. Thomas Steinherr was released down the left and he burst into the box, before forcing a good stop from Leno. The rebound was pushed wide but Maximilian Bauer was on hand to push the ball into the back of the net and send the home fans delirious.
It would only be momentary joy, however, with Leverkusen equalising almost immediately. After a cross to the back post had seemingly missed everyone, Kießling was able to nod the ball back into the six yard box for Hernandez. The Mexican continued his excellent goalscoring form by blasting home, leaving Marinovic with no chance.
The Australian stopper then made a stunning stop to deny Leverkusen a half-time lead, somehow managing to pull Chicharito's shot out of the far corner and away to safety. That was the final attack of the half; one which neither team would have wanted to end.
Leverkusen take the lead early in the second half
The opening exchanges in the second half were rather timid, with a midfield battle preventing any real flow in play. That was to be broken 10 minutes in and Leverkusen went ahead for the first time in the game. After the hosts lost the ball in their own half, Kießling quickly moved forward to collect a precise through pass. The veteran forward touched the ball inside and set himself for a powerful near-post effort that Marinovic couldn't keep out.
Just like in the first half, the team that scored look vulnerable straight away. The dangerous Steinherr put in a great delivery to the back post and Ulrich Taffertshofer met the cross, but couldn't direct it on target - as it flew narrowly over the crossbar. Not long after that saw Reisner come on for Einsiedler, in a bid to use his pace to get in behind the Leverkusen defence.
Sending off and Leverkusen's third go hand in hand
Set-pieces looked to be the best way to break the visitors' resistance, and a series of corners almost earned an equaliser. Jonathan Tah narrowly headed over and past his own goal in successive chances for Unterhaching, though Leverkusen managed to survive. Just as they had built up a head of steam, Taffertshofer committed a second rash tackle in 10 minutes and was sent-off; the dream looked to be in tatters.
Leverkusen would compound the misery of their hosts with a third and killer goal. After a spell of possession around the Unterhaching box, Hernandez was eventually able to find Karim Bellarabi on the right. They made the man advantage count with Bellarabi rifling the ball into the far corner, before wheeling away to celebrate with the visiting fans. The journey had ended, though 'Haching had been more than worthy opponents for the Bundesliga giants.