By DPA
Hamburg : Bundesliga champions VfB Stuttgart crashed out of the German Cup on penalties to second-division side Carl Zeiss Jena in a dramatic quarterfinal tie.
Meanwhile, Borussia Dortmund overcame second-division opponents Hoffenheim to advance to the semi-finals Tuesday.
Jena, struggling near the foot of the second division, caused another major upset after eliminating cup holders Nuremberg and first-division Arminia Bielefeld in the previous rounds.
A goal in the last seconds of extra time by Robert Mueller took Jena into penalties with the score at 2-2 after Mario Gomez had twice struck for Stuttgart, last season’s losing finalists.
Jena – four-time cup winners in former East Germany – won the shoot-out 5-4, with Torsten Ziegner scoring the decisive goal after Antonia da Silva had struck his penalty shot over the bar.
Jena had led from a 32nd-minute header from Tobias Werner until Gomez struck nine minutes from time to take the match into the extra 30 minutes, and then scored again four minutes into the extra period.
In Dortmund, goals from Italian midfielder Giovanni Federico and the Brazilian Tinga put Borussia in front before Francisco Copada pulled one back from the penalty spot for Hoffenheim before half time.
Croatian Mladen Petric headed a third for Dortmund nine minutes after the break to settle the game.
“They play really good football but in the end it was a deserved victory for us,” said Dortmund coach Thomas Doll.
It is the first time Dortmund have reached the last four since 1989 when they went on to win the cup.
In the two remaining quarterfinals on Wednesday, SV Hamburg visit Wolfsburg, while Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich face second-division 1860 Munich in a city derby.