Borussia Dortmund beat Holstein Kiel in Germany Cup

Posted on February 9, 2012 by SoccerPunter

Japan star Shinji Kagawa netted as Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund reached the German Cup semi-finals with a 4-0 win at fourth-division Holstein Kiel on Tuesday.

Dortmund coached Jurgen Klopp started with Australian reserve goalkeeper Mitchell Langerak in a near first-choice side which had few problems in the quarter-final as the guests raced into a 2-0 lead after less than 20 minutes.

Poland striker Robert Lewandowski put the visitors ahead at Kiel’s Holstein Stadion ground in front of a sell-out 11,386 crowd when he reacted fastest to an over-head kick from Ivan Perisic to score in the 11th minute.

Kagawa doubled the lead seven minutes later when he took a great diagonal pass from Poland midfielder Lukasz Piszczek and slammed the ball into the top left-hand corner from the edge of the penalty area.

In sub-zero temperatures, Dortmund were rarely tested by the minnows who had knocked top-flight Mainz out in the previous round and also beaten second division Duisburg and Energie Cottbus on the way to the last eight.

Just as he did in last Friday’s 2-0 German league win at Nuremberg, Paraguay striker Lucas Barrios came off the bench midway through the second-half and scored Dortmund’s third in the 80th minute.

Perisic, who provided the final pass for Lewandowski and Barrios to score, was rewarded for his efforts with the final goal on 87 minutes when he beat the defence from a corner.

In the remaining quarter-final matches to be played on Wednesday, Bayern Munich are at VfB Stuttgart, Borussia Moenchengladbach – who eliminated holders Schalke 04 in the previous round – play at Hertha Berlin and second-division Greuther Fuerrth are at Hoffenheim.

The semi-finals will be held on March 20 and 21, with the final to be held at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium on May 12.