Mario Gomez scored twice on his competitive debut for Bayern Munich to help them to a 3-1 win against sixth division SpVgg Neckarelz in the German Cup on Sunday.
Neckarelz, who switched the tie to Hoffenheim and were rewarded with a bumper 30,000 crowd, held the 14-time Cup winners for 50 minutes, although they were helped by Bayern’s dreadful first-half finishing.
Gomez, who moved from VfB Stuttgart in May, broke the deadlock in the 51st minute with a shot that went in off both posts from Bastian Schweinsteiger’s pass. His second came from a penalty awarded for handball six minutes later.
PHOTO: AFP
Despite having Christian Fickert sent off for a second bookable offense, the part-timers pulled one back through Heiko Throm with 10 minutes left, before Hamit Altintop restored Bayern’s two-goal lead and sent them into the second round.
The first round of the cup is a potential minefield for Bundesliga clubs as the seeding system pits them away to lower league teams in one-leg ties.
Hannover 96 became the second top flight side to go out when they lost 3-1 at fourth division Eintracht Trier.
Jan Rosenthal gave Hannover a halftime lead, but Martin Wagner, Josef Cinar and Sahr Senesie scored in the last half hour to give Trier a stunning win. Mainz were the other victims, losing 2-1 at fourth division VfL Lubeck on Friday.
Cup holders Werder Bremen had no such problems as they trounced second division Union Berlin 5-0 away, with two goals apiece from Ivorian Boubacar Sanogo and Bolivian Marcelo Martins, and one from Brazilian Naldo.
Martins was making his debut after joining on loan from Shakhtar Donetsk.
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