Hannover clinched their place in the quarter-finals of the Europa League with an emphatic 4-0 victory at home to Standard Liege.
Bundesliga side run out emphatic winners in second leg
Hannover clinched their place in the quarter-finals of the Europa League with an emphatic 4-0 victory at home to Standard Liege in the second leg of their tie.
Two goals in the first 21 minutes put the German side on course for the last eight, with Standard then having to play the last half an hour a man down following Serge Gakpe's dismissal.
And two more goals in the closing stages sealed a 6-2 aggregate success for Mirko Slomka's side in front of a crowd of 43,000.
The home side were always favourites to progress after claiming a 2-2 draw in Belgium in the first leg, and they made the ideal start.
They opened the scoring in the fourth minute when Mohamed Abdellaoui fired home from just six yards out following good work by Jan Schlaudraff on the right-hand side of the area.
Abdellaoui almost grabbed his second of the night on 14 minutes, but saw his shot from similar range blocked by Martins Felipe.
However, the home fans did not have to wait too much longer to celebrate another goal as Antonio Kanu put through his own net from six yards in the 21st minute.
Sebastien Pocognoli failed to clear Sergio Pinto's cross and when the winger volleyed in a powerful second effort, Kanu could only divert the ball beyond goalkeeper Sinan Bolat.
Kanu had the chance to make amends just two minutes later, but failed to convert from close range after Jelle Van Damme's header from a corner came back off the post.
Hopes ended
And Standard refused to throw in the towel as William Vainqueur then forced a save from Hannover goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler with a shot from 20 yards.
Vainqueur also volleyed over the bar as the visitors tried to get back into the game, but they were unable to get on the scoresheet before the interval.
And any hopes they had of a brilliant comeback were effectively ended just before the hour mark when Gakpe was shown a second yellow card for a foul on Karim Haggui.
Hannover were seemingly happy to see the game out and Christian Schulz was booked for time wasting as early as the 68th minute, but they did score twice more to complete the rout.
The first came on 73 minutes when substitute Didier Konan sprang the offside trap and although his shot was partially saved by Bolat, the ball struck the unfortunate Kanu on its way into the net.
If there was any doubt about who would be credited with the goal, there was none with the fourth as Sergio Pinto fired home from 12 yards in injury time to make it 6-2 on aggregate.
