FC St. Pauli

Head coach Alexander Blessin made two changes to the team that played out a scoreless draw with Wolfsburg at the weekend, Robert Wagner and Oladapo Afolayan coming in for Carlo Boukhalfa and Danel Sinani, who both dropped to the bench. It was thus the exact same side that began the narrow 2-1 defeat at Dortmund. Leipzig boss Marco Rose plumped for six adjustments after the 3-1 home defeat of Freiburg. Maarten Vandevoort, El Chadaille Bitsiabu, Lukas Klostermann, Arthur Vermeeren, Andre Silva and Yussuf Poulsen replaced Péter Gulácsi, Amadou Haidara, Castello Lukeba, Benjamin Šeško (all bench) and Loïs Openda.

The Boys in Brown went into the game determined to match the Saxony outfit – as they had done in the goalless draw in the league – and produce a battling cup display. The hosts had more of the play early on, but the Blessin XI stood firm. With ten minutes on the clock, Manolis Saliakas almost put through his own goal following a Lukas Klostermann cross that was headed on by Andre Silva, but fortunately his sliding clearance flew just past the left-hand upright. Less than 120 seconds later, however, the ball was in the net when Poulsen beat Eric Smith to a long ball into the box and slid a shot into the bottom left corner from eight metres. And there was more to come, Christopher Baumgartner heading home a ball in from Lutsharel Geertruida after a quickfire attack. Once again, there was nothing Nikola Vasilj could do about it.

That twin blow was hard to take, given the stated intention of keeping the game open as long as possible. Up front, the Boys in Brown struggled to find a way through against a team with the best defensive record in the league, but when the first opportunity of note came around on 28 minutes, they took it. After a turnover just outside the area Oladapo Afolayan gave the ball to Johannes Eggestein, who in turn fed Morgan Guilavogui in the left channel, and he fired beyond Vandervoort to halve the deficit. The joy proved short-lived, however, as Leipzig restored their two-goal advantage almost immediately. Possession was lost, allowing the home side to break quickly. With two against one, Baumgartner knocked the ball to Poulsen, and he rifled a shot into the roof of the net. Three minutes before the break Afolayan was presented with an opportunity following a peach of a pass from Smith, but his shot from the edge of the box cleared the crossbar.

Morgan Guilavogui, here under challenge from Leipzig's Andre Silva, notched his first competitive goal for the club in the first half.

Both sides emerged unchanged for the second half and two minutes in the hosts registered the opening chance when a deflected effort from Kevin Kampl fizzed past the left-hand upright. The Boys in Brown pressed earlier than they had done before the interval, a tactic that helped them stifle the home side's build-up play. In the 51^st minute a neat passing move ended with Eggestein blasting a shot a whisker over the crossbar from 14 metres, and two minutes later Karol Mets also went close with a distance effort that almost found the bottom right-hand corner. Soon after, Robert Wagner saw a first-time effort from a corner saved by Vandervoordt.

The Blessin XI were well in it now and bagged a long overdue goal in the 58^th minute when Smith smashed the ball into the middle from the right and after taking a deflection off Klostermann it dropped into the far corner of the net. Almost immediately, Guilavogui cut the ball back for Wagner to shoot, but his effort from the edge of the box was blocked. Guilavogui then had a header blocked by Bastian Henrichs following a Smith corner. At the other end, Vasilj had to stretch to turn a Geertruida drive over the crossbar. The Boys in Brown hit back, and Smith tried his luck from range, but Vandervoordt made a comfortable save.

In what was now a very entertaining contest, Marco Rose made a triple substitution in the 68^th minute in a bid to change the momentum. The game ebbed and flow on entering the final quarter of an hour, with substitute Eljif Elmas being denied by Vasilj before Vandervoordt defused an attempt by Afolayan at the other end. But it was another Leipzig substitute who made it 4-2, Antonio Nusa weaving his way past Wagner and Smith before beating Vasilj from ten metres. Blessin threw on Carlo Boukhalfa and Danel Sinani for Wagner and Afolayan and the Boys in Brown refused to give up. Jackson Irvine headed just wide of the left-hand post from a Philipp Treu cross on 82 but nothing more was forthcoming, ensuring the cup run came to an end.

Leipzig

Vandervoordt - Klostermann, Orbán, Bitshiabu (Lukeba 69') - Geertuida, Kampl, Vermeeren (Haidara 69'), Henrichs - Baumgartner (Nusa 69') - Poulsen, Silva (Elmas 76')

Head coach: Marco Rose

FC St. Pauli

Vasilj - Wahl, Smith, Mets - Saliakas (Ritzka 87'), Irvine, Wagner (Boukhalfa 81'), Treu - Afolayan (Sinani 81'), Eggestein (Albers 87'), Guilavogui (Ahlstrand 90'+1)

Head coach: Alexander Blessin

Goals: 1-0 Poulsen (12'), 2-0 Baumgartner (17'), 2-1 Guilavogui (28'), 3-1 Poulsen (30'), 3-2 Smith (58'), 4-2 Nusa (80')

Yellow cards: Saliakas

Referee: Felix Zwayer (Berlin)

Attendance 40,478

Photos: FC St. Pauli/Witters