Borussia Dortmund fans throw dozens of tennis balls on pitch in ticket-price row

Borussia Dortmund progressed to the DFB-Pokal semi-finals on a night when their players temporarily became ball boys after disgruntled fans threw dozens of tennis balls on to the pitch in Stuttgart.

Dortmund supporters made their anger about the hosts’ ticket prices known in the build-up to Tuesday’s cup tie, and that led to an unusual interruption midway through the first half.

Fans smuggled tennis balls into the Mercedes-Benz Arena and threw them on to the pitch, disrupting a match which Dortmund went on to win 3-1.

The incident happened after ticket prices also hit the headlines in England over the weekend, with an estimated 10,000 Liverpool supporters leaving Anfield after 77 minutes of last Saturday's draw with Sunderland in protest at the club's new pricing structure for next season.

Dortmund took the lead in Stuttgart through Marco Reus’s fifth-minute strike but the in-form home side – on a four-match Bundesliga winning streak – drew level in the 21st minute when Lukas Rupp scored.

The game was then disrupted in the 24th minute when dozens of tennis balls were thrown on to the pitch near the corner of the stadium housing the visiting Dortmund fans.

The balls were cleared by players from both sides, after which last season’s runners-up Dortmund would go on to secure victory with goals from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the 31st minute and Henrikh Mkhitaryan in the 89th.

In Tuesday’s early kick-off, Werder Bremen also secured a 3-1 away win, at Bayer Leverkusen.

Javier Hernández’s 22nd-minute penalty put Bayer ahead but Werder drew level through Santiago Garcia and then took a 42nd-minute lead through Claudio Pizarro’s penalty after Borges Wendell had been sent off for the hosts.

Florian Grillitsch then wrapped by Werder’s win with their third goal seven minutes from time.