Frankfurt Follows Bayern with Early Exit from German Cup in 3-0 Loss at Leipzig

Frankfurt goalkeeper Kevin Trapp cannot stop a third goal by Leipzig during a German Cup soccer match between RB Leipzig and Eintracht Frankfurt, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024, in Leipzig, Germany. (Jan Woitas/dpa via AP)

The top two teams in the Bundesliga are out of the German Cup after Eintracht Frankfurt followed Bayern Munich with an early exit on Wednesday.
Frankfurt lost 3-0 at Leipzig, which ended a run of six winless matches — having lost five of those. Bayern lost its third-round match 1-0 at home to defending champion Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday, The Associated Press reported.
Benjamin Sesko fired Leipzig in front with a delightful goal in the 32nd work after good play from Antonio Nusa.
Loïs Openda netted twice in the second half and both goals were also set up by Nusa.
Augsburg scraped through to the quarterfinals by beating second-division Karlsruher 5-4 on penalties after the match had ended 2-2.
Augsburg was on the verge of being eliminated before Rubén Vargas leveled in stoppage time of extra time.
Marvin Wanitzek had missed an early penalty for Karlsruher but converted the opening one of the shootout as well as scoring in extra time.
All the players converted theirs before Karlsruher midfielder Robin Heußer saw his saved by Finn Dahmen and Maximilian Bauer scored to send Augsburg to the next round.
Wolfsburg cruised into the quarterfinals with a 3-0 win over Bundesliga struggler Hoffenheim.
It was tighter in the all second-division match where Cologne needed a penalty in the final minute of extra time for a 2-1 win over Hertha Berlin, which had played most of the match in 10 men after defender Deyovaisio Zeefuik was sent off in the 25th minute for violent conduct — having headbutted Timo Hübers and shoved Tim Lemperle.
Hertha was 1-0 up at that point but Cologne leveled five minutes later.
The 10-man visitors held out resolutely but Cologne denied them a penalty shootout by scoring one of its own, with Dejan Ljubičić converting after teammate Florian Kainz had been brought down by Gustav Christensen.