Leverkusen cruise past St. Pauli to reach third-straight DFB-Pokal semi-finals | OneFootball

Goals from Martin Terrier, Patrick Schick and Jonas Hofmann sealed a routine quarter-final win for Kasper Hjulmand’s side, who reach the last four of the competition for the third consecutive season.

Leverkusen survived an early scare just four minutes in when Daniel Sinani’s dangerous cross found Martijn Kaars inside the penalty area, but the forward’s effort was blocked and cleared. Die Werkself quickly asserted control thereafter, dominating possession and pinning St. Pauli inside their own half for large spells of the opening period.

After Karol Mets produced a heroic goal-line clearance to deny Schick in the 17th minute, Hjulmand’s side eventually made the breakthrough just after the half-hour mark. St. Pauli failed to deal with what initially appeared a harmless situation, with several defenders unable to clear their lines, allowing Terrier to steal in. The Frenchman brought the bouncing ball down on his chest before unleashing a precise volley past Ben Voll to give Leverkusen a deserved 1-0 lead.

The Kiezkickers responded well to falling behind, committing more men forward and finding some joy out wide by exploiting gaps in Leverkusen’s system. They came close to equalising on 40 minutes when Arkadiusz Pyrka’s cross picked out Kaars inside the six-yard box, but the Dutchman could only lift his effort over the bar, allowing Leverkusen to retain their narrow advantage heading into the break.

The early stages of the second half developed into a physical contest, with both sides trading fouls as Leverkusen ceded more possession and invited St. Pauli to try and break them down - a task that continued to trouble the Bundesliga’s lowest-scoring side.

With chances proving scarce for the visitors, Leverkusen doubled their lead on 63 minutes. A well-worked short corner eventually found its way to Aleix García, whose clipped cross was met by the unmarked Schick arriving at the back post, the striker guiding his volley beyond Voll to make it 2-0 and leave St. Pauli with a mountain to climb.

As the game opened up with St. Pauli pushing in search of a route back into the contest, it was the hosts who continued to look more threatening. Substitute Jonas Hofmann struck the post with a fierce effort from distance, while matters worsened for the visitors when Ricky-Jade Jones was forced off with an ankle injury, allowing January signing Taichi Hara to make his debut.

Leverkusen wrapped the contest up two minutes into stoppage time. A quick counter-attack released Alejandro Grimaldo down the left, and the wing-back’s cross found Hofmann at the back post, where he controlled before calmly finishing past the onrushing Voll to complete a comprehensive 3-0 victory. Once again, a lack of precision and penetration in the final third proved costly for St. Pauli, as Leverkusen progressed without ever needing to move out of first gear.