Bayern Munich's Joshua Kimmich celebrates scoring their first goal with teammates at the Veltins-Arena in Gelsenkirchen, Germany March 3, 2020. — Reuters pic
GELSENKIRCHEN (Germany), March 4 — Joshua Kimmich edged Bayern Munich into the German Cup semi-finals with the only goal in a 1-0 win at Schalke 04 yesterday.
Bayern sit top of the Bundesliga and are also set for a place in the Champions League quarters having beaten Chelsea 3-0 in the first leg of their last-16 tie.
There was also a major upset as fourth-tier Saarbrucken performed a giant killing act on top-flight Fortuna Duesseldorf by winning a thrilling penalty shoot-out 7-6 following a 1-1 draw.
Saarbrucken’s hero was their goalkeeper Daniel Batz, who saved a penalty in regular time and then stopped two more in the shoot-out.
The minnows took the lead in the 31st minute but were pushed into the shoot-out after Fortuna equalised in the 90th minute through Mathias Jorgensen.
Defending Cup winners Bayern have won 13 of their past 14 games under coach Hansi Flick but played yresterday without injured strikers Robert Lewandowski and Kingsley Coman, who scored all the goals in last year’s 3-0 final win over RB Leipzig.
Kimmich’s first-time strike from the edge of the area came in the 40th minute while Schalke hit the woodwork and had a goal ruled out for offside.
In the other quarter-finals today Bayer Leverkusen host Union Berlin while Eintracht Frankfurt greet Werder Bremen. — AFP