German Cup holders Stuttgart beat Braunschweig on penalties

Holders Stuttgart won a dramatic 8-7 penalty shoot-out in the first round of the German Cup on Tuesday after twice having to come from behind against second tier Braunschweig in a chaotic 4-4 draw.

Lorenz Assignon scored the decisive spot kick after Stuttgart goalie Alexander Nuebel saved three times in the shoot-out, keeping the struggling title holders in the competition.

Stuttgart have stumbled into this season, losing the German Super Cup 2-1 at home against Bayern Munich before going down by the same scoreline at Union Berlin in their league opener.

Stuttgart were down after just eight minutes when Sven Koehler opened the scoring with a long-range effort, but drew level just three minutes later when Ermedin Demirovic scored his first.

Demirovic looked to have Stuttgart on track when he scored another with 60 minutes played, but Braunschweig's Fabio Di Michele Sanchez scored in the 77th and 85th minutes to grab hold of the game.

Stuttgart's Nick Woltemade levelled things up in the final minute of regulation time, taking the game into extra-time. Both sides scored in extra time, with Sanoussy Ba's own goal giving Stuttgart the advantage before Christian Joe Conteh tied it up at 4-4 to send the match to penalties.

Both sides missed twice in the opening set of five penalties but then matched each other before Nuebel leapt to his left, saving Lukas Frenkert's shot.

Assignon converted, sending the four-time winners into the next round of the competition.