Berlin: The Bundesliga's top two were dumped out of the German Cup by lowly opposition, leaders Mainz 05 going out to Alemannia Aachen and Borussia Dortmund beaten on penalties by Kickers Offenbach.
Second division Aachen took a well-deserved 2-0 lead before Mainz, who have been sparkling in their second consecutive Bundesliga season, roused themselves to pull one back through Hungarian Adam Szalai midway through the second half.
That was not the signal for the expected comeback, though, as Mainz continued to lack their usual offensive spark and Aachen held on to win 2-1.
Dortmund suffered an even more painful defeat as they went out against third division Offenbach, missing two of their penalties in a shoot-out they lost 4-2 after the match had finished goalless.
Eintracht Frankfurt's Fanis Gekas struck twice to earn his side a 5-2 win over Hamburg SV in the most entertaining encounter of the night.
Frankfurt scored first when Caio, who had come on for injured Alexander Meier only three minutes earlier, thundered in an unstoppable shot from 20 metres.
In-form striker Gekas doubled the lead with a well-taken header seven minutes later but Hamburg, missing injured Ruud van Nistelrooy, responded when Mladen Petric tapped in from close range.
Gekas punished the visitors for some misses with his second goal on the stroke of halftime before Petric headed in an own goal to make it 4-1.
The striker made amends with a fine header to cut the deficit but Halil Altintop converted an 87th-minute penalty, awarded for a foul on Gekas, to seal the hosts' place in the third round.
VfB Stuttgart continued their comeback under new coach Jens Keller, scoring twice in extra-time to edge past Chemnitz 3-1.
Hoffenheim, who played more than half the game with 10 men after striker Vedad Ibisevic was sent off, also struggled against FC Ingolstadt but escaped with a 1-0 win thanks to Demba Ba's 63rd minute winner from close range.
Holders Bayern Munich edged past last season's finalists Werder Bremen 2-1 on Tuesday and Schalke 04 struggled to beat FSV Frankfurt 1-0.
Bureau League
First Published: Thursday, October 28, 2010, 10:02