Xabi Alonso's remarkable long-range strike was
enough to carry Bayern Munich to a 1-0 win over
Darmstadt and into the quarterfinals of the DFB
Pokal on Tuesday.
The ball fell to Alonso about 40 yards from goal,
and the Spaniard took one touch before looping
the ball past goalkeeper Christian Mathenia.
Robert Lewandowski also hit the post but Bayern
made little out of its near monopoly of possession.
Late in the match, Darmstadt threatened a
couple of times but never put Bayern in real
danger.
While Pep Guardiola's men did not show the
absolute dominance with which they have
opened up a five-point lead at the top of the
Bundesliga and set up a date with Juventus in the
last 16 of the Champions League, they still
managed to see off their league rivals at the
Allianz Arena.
Bayern stayed in the hunt for a Treble and
advanced to the cup quarterfinals, which will be
contested Feb. 9-10.
Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez continued his fine
scoring form as Bayer Leverkusen won 3-1 win at
fourth-tier Unterhaching.
The Mexican striker followed up his weekend hat
trick with an equaliser from close range, four
minutes after the Bavarian hosts had taken the
lead through Maximilian Bauer.
Stefan Kiessling, who added two goals of his own
in Leverkusen's 5-0 win over Borussia
Monchengladbach on Saturday, put the top-flight
side ahead 10 minutes after the break with a shot
at the near post.
After Ulrich Taffertshofer was sent off for a second
yellow card, Karim Bellarabi took a pass from
Hernandez and slotted home to provide the final
margin.
Borussia Monchengladbach's dismal week
continued with a 4-3 defeat at home against
Werder Bremen.
Gladbach crashed out of Europe last Tuesday with
a Champions League defeat at Manchester City,
followed by the 5-0 Bundesliga rout by
Leverkusen, and are now out of the cup as well.
Lars Stindl put Gladbach ahead on 32 minutes,
only for Bremen to reverse the scoreline with
goals from Janek Sternberg and Jannik
Vestergaard early in the second half.
Branimir Hrgota brought Gladbach back level, but
the joy lasted only a minute as Claudio Pizarro put
the visitors back ahead, and Anthony Ujah soon
added a fourth on the counter-attack.
Hrgota's second goal in stoppage time came too
late and Bremen advanced to the quarterfinals.
In a game between lower-division sides,
Heidenheim won 2-0 at Erzgebirge Aue thanks to
goals soon after half-time from Arne Feick and
Marc Schnatterer.
The final four games of the round and the
quarterfinal draw are set for Wednesday.

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