Fan’s death overshadows German Cup games

A football fan died before a German Cup game in the round of the last 16 in Dortmund after falling from the terraces.

The incident happened Wednesday Police during Weder Bremen’s match against Dortmund at the Signal-Iduna-Park. The spectator fell from the south terrace of the stadium and although he was immediately airlifted to hospital doctors pronounced him dead on arrival.

Werder Bremen came from behind to oust last year’s losing finalist 2-1 to advance to the quarter-finals, while Bayer Leverkusen beat Energie Cottbus 3-0 to go through.

Police said that they did not know the reason for the incident, but believed it to be a tragic accident.

The game went ahead with neither side knowing about the incident and Swiss international Alexander Frei gave the home an early lead, but instead of pushing forward searching for a second goal, Dortmund sat back, allowing Bremen to take command.

The visitors were rewarded for their efforts on the hour when Hugo Almeida managed to find the equaliser.

With ten minutes to go, Brazilian midfielder Diego saw his free-kick well saved by Roman Weidenfeller, only for Claudio Pizarro to slam the ball into the back of the net.

In Leverkusen the home side had all but sealed matters by the end of the first half as they were already leading 3-0 through goals by Patrick Helmes, Michal Kadlec and Renato Augusto.

Leverkusen sat back in the second half, but were never under any real pressure and an injury time consolation goal by Ervin Skela did nothing to prevent Leverkusen’s progress into the next round.