German Cup

Reigning Bundesliga champs Borussia Dortmund won 4-0 away to regional league team Holstein Kiel in their German Cup quarterfinal clash on Tuesday night.

Dortmund, who currently sit atop the league ladder, outclassed their northern opponents in sub-zero temperatures and on a rock-hard pitch to net two goals in either half.

Robert Lewandowski scored the opener in the 11th minute when he reacted fasted to an overhead kick from Ivan Perisic. He was followed seven minutes later by a goal from Shinji Kagawa, who controlled a nice diagonal pass from Poland international Lukasz Piszczek to slam the ball into the top-left corner of the goal from the edge of the penalty area.

Though Dortmund were rarely tested, with young Australian keeper Mitch Langerak standing in for veteran goalie Roman Weidenfeller, they had to wait over half an hour longer following resumption of play for their next goal. Substitute Lucas Barrios netted the third in the 80th, before Croatian midfielder Perisic rounded off the double brace with a goal in the 87th.

Dortmund defender Mats Hummels spoke post-match of the difficult match conditions. "In the Bundesliga, this match never would have kicked off. It was very tough today. But we accepted the conditions for what they were, we accepted the fight and this was the decisive point," said Hummels.

Coach Jürgen Klopp, meanwhile, said he was unhappy with the decision to play in temperatures of around -18 Celsius (-0.4 Fahrenheit), commenting "it was like ice hockey on grass."

"The pitch was unplayable, but there was pressure from TV not to cancel the game ... There was a great danger the players were going to get hurt."

In quarterfinals to be played Wednesday, Hoffenheim host second league club Greuther Fürth, Borussia Mönchengladbach travel to Hertha Berlin and Stuttgart entertain Bayern Munich.

dfm/ai (dpa, Reuters)