Berlin Oct 30 || Three first-half goals sent Leipzig through to the last 16 of the German Cup with a 4-2 win over St. Pauli on Tuesday.
The Red Bulls took the initiative against the defensive-minded visitors, needing just 12 minutes to break the deadlock. St. Pauli failed to clear the ball out of the area, allowing Yussuf Poulsen to slot home from six meters.
The hosts continued to press, and five minutes later, Christoph Baumgartner headed in Lutsharel Geertruida's pinpoint cross, reports.
St. Pauli halved the deficit on the half-hour mark when Morgan Guilavogui latched onto Johannes Eggestein's cutback pass.
Leipzig restored their two-goal lead when Poulsen finished off a counterattack to make it 3-1.
After the restart, St. Pauli came out firing, putting the passive hosts on the back foot, and were finally rewarded for their efforts on the hour mark when Eric Smith's cross was met by Lukas Klostermann with an unstoppable deflection.
The visitors threatened more in the closing stages, but Leipzig's Antonio Nusa put the result beyond doubt with an 80th-minute solo run.
Elsewhere, Chris Fuhrich's late winner helped Stuttgart progress after they defeated Kaiserslautern 2-1.