A depleted Borussia Dortmund made an early exit from the German Cup when they lost 2-1 at Bundesliga rivals Borussia Moenchengladbach in the second round on Wednesday.

Dortmund, who have 11 players sidelined by injuries, paid the price for a sluggish first half.

The home side took the lead on 11 minutes courtesy of a superb free kick from Slovakia midfielder Igor Demo and doubled the advantage through Finland striker Joonas Kolkka 13 minutes later.

The visitors stepped up a gear after the break but failed to score until Czech striker Jan Koller pulled one back from a penalty with two minutes remaining.

"Their first two chances were goals," said Dortmund coach Matthias Sammer. "We were a bit unlucky to find ourselves trailing 2-0 but we showed too little initiative before the break.

"We played better after the interval and had a few opportunities but our poor first half cost us victory."

Four-times Cup winners Schalke 04 failed to reach the third round for the first time in four years when SC Freiburg scored four goals in extra time to beat them 7-3 in Wednesday's other all-Bundesliga clash.

Mali midfielder Soumaila Coulibaly was the inspiration behind Freiburg's spectacular win with three goals including two in extra time.

Schalke, whose coach Jupp Heynckes was already under pressure after a disappointing run in the Bundesliga, were reduced to 10 men when Uruguay midfielder Gustavo Varela was sent off for a second bookable offence 15 minutes into extra time.

Two goals from Bulgaria striker Dimitar Berbatov helped Bundesliga leaders Bayer Leverkusen to a 5-0 demolition of second division strugglers Union Berlin.

Hanover 96 slumped to a 2-0 defeat to regional side Eintracht Braunschweig in a northern German derby.

Two other Bundesliga sides, TSV 1860 Munich and Eintracht Frankfurt, went out to second division opponents.

TSV 1860 were beaten on penalties by Alemannia Aachen while Eintracht Frankfurt lost 2-1 to MSV Duisburg after extra time.

Holders Bayern Munich needed penalties to move past second division Nuremberg on Tuesday.

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