Leverkusen down 10-man Union to reach German Cup semis

Berlin (AFP) – Bayer Leverkusen came from behind to beat 10-man Union Berlin 3-1 on Wednesday at the BayArena to reach the German Cup semi-finals.

Peter Bosz’s side are looking to win the competition for only the second time in the club’s history and join Bayern Munich and Saarbruecken in the last four.

Marcus Ingvartsen gave the visitors a 39th-minute lead, arriving at the back post to meet Marius Buelter’s cross and power a header into the bottom corner.

But Union, who were Cup runners-up to Schalke as a third-tier side in 2001, were dealt a massive blow 19 minutes from time as defender Christopher Lenz was dismissed for a second yellow card.

Leverkusen wasted little time in making Lenz pay, as Karim Bellarabi equalised just a minute later, drilling a low effort into the bottom corner after being played in on goal by Kai Havertz.

The hosts completed the comeback as Chilean international Charles Aranguiz headed home Kerem Demirbay’s 86th-minute corner before Moussa Diaby added gloss to the scoreline in injury time.

Eintracht Frankfurt welcome Werder Bremen to the Commerzbank-Arena in the last quarter-final later on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, holders Bayern Munich continued their bid for a treble of Bundesliga, Cup and Champions League titles by edging past Schalke 1-0, while Saarbruecken stunned top-flight Fortuna Duesseldorf on penalties to become the first fourth-division side to reach the semis.