German Cup: Holders Bayern Munich through, Werder Bremen stunned

German champions Bayern Munich had a routine passage to the quarterfinals of the German Cup with a win over Eintracht Braunschweig, while Werder Bremen suffered the round's shock with defeat at Third Division side Arminia Bielefeld.

One of the sides relegated from the Bundesliga last season, Eintracht Braunschweig carried the match to Bayern in the first-half but trailed at the break after an outstanding free-kick from David Alaba.

The Austrian netted a similar set-piece at Stuttgart last month, slamming his free-kick off the woodwork and into the back of the net. The holders bagged their 15th straight win in German Cup action early in the second half with Mario Götze intelligently beating two Braunschweig players before netting from inside the box.

Giant-killing in Bielefeld

But Wednesday's surprise result came at Arminia Bielefeld, with Werder Bremen left nursing a 3-1 defeat to the club currenty top of the Third Division.

Norbert Meier's side were roared on by an enthusiastic home support who appeared to sense the prospect of an upset on what was a less than perfect pitch at the Schüco Arena.

On 31 minutes, Tom Schütz steamed from midfield into the box, unsettling Koen Casteels in the Bremen goal, who was in no man's land as Manuel Junglas opened the scoring.

Bremen returned from the break stronger with Zlatko Junuzovic coming close on 51 minutes, shooting just over the crossbar from the 18-yard-box.

The Austrian's poor finish was punished by Bielefeld three minutes later with Sebastian Schuppan tucking the ball home from a poorly-defended set-piece.

Viktor Skripnik's men seemed unable to transfer the impressive form from the Bundesliga to the German Cup with only a handful of stops for Alexander Schwolow, who was keen to add some shine to his performance between the sticks.

Schwolow pulled off a fine save on 72 minutes, but couldn't keep out Clemens Fritz's long-range effort on 75 minutes, which made for a nervy end to proceedings.

But Bielefeld struck for a third time with Junglas taking advantage of some over-zealous Bremen attacking, racing up field and scoring to secure a place in the last-eight. Werder skipper Clemens Fritz was sent off late in the match.

Wolfsburg, Gladbach win

Elsewhere, Wolfsburg cruised through to the quarterfinals of the competition for the third year running with a 2-0 win at RB Leipzig.

Kevin de Bruyne was creator for the 20th time this season in all competitions, setting up for Daniel Caligiuri on 20 minutes before Timm Klose secured the win in the second-half to extend Wolfsburg's unbeaten run to 15.

Borussia Mönchengladbach avoided an upset at the home of the lowest-ranked team in the competition Kickers Offenbach, winning 2-0 through strikes from Max Kruse and Patrick Herrmann against the Fourth Division side.