Bayern Munich held off a spirited comeback to beat Borussia Dortmund 2-1 at home and knock the defending champion out of the German Cup on Wednesday.

Bayern defender Jerome Boateng opened the scoring early with a header from the rebound after Niklas Suele’s initial effort came off the crossbar.

Arturo Vidal had already struck the crossbar amid a host of chances for Bayern.

Dortmund only managed one shot on goal in the first half compared to the home side’s 10 – and David Alaba cleared off the line when Andrey Yarmolenko should have scored for the visitors.

Thomas Mueller made it 2-0 for Bayern five minutes before the break with a brilliant chip over the outrushing Roman Buerki.

Dortmund improved dramatically in the second half as Bayern sat back and Yarmolenko duly pulled one back with just over 10 minutes remaining when Shinji Kagawa eluded two defenders to cross to the far post.

The 18-year-old Alexander Isak went agonizingly close to grabbing an equalizer in injury time, but Bayern progressed to the quarterfinals.

BAILEY SCORES AGAIN

Leon Bailey scored for Bayer Leverkusen to reach the quarterfinals with a 1-0 win at Borussia Moenchengladbach.

Bailey netted the only goal of the game with 20 minutes remaining after Kevin Volland sent him through.

Sebastien Haller scored the winner in extra time for Eintracht Frankfurt to win 2-1 at second-division Heidenheim, and Werder Bremen defeated Freiburg 3-2 at home.

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