Soccer-Bayern rout Werder to reach League Cup semi-finals

BERLIN, July 21 (Reuters) - Bayern Munich crushed Werder Bremen 4-1 on Saturday to grab a spot in the semi-finals of Germany's pre-season League Cup tournament while Schalke 04 also advanced with a 1-0 victory over Karlsruhe.

Bayern, who made sweeping changes after finishing a disappointing fourth in the league last season, got their revenge on Werder after losing last year's League Cup final 2-0. They face league champions VfB Stuttgart on Wednesday.

France midfielder Franck Ribery scored two goals, including a penalty, while Turkey's Hamit Altintop and Germany midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger got one each for Bayern. They had fallen behind 1-0 on a ninth-minute strike from Werder's Tim Borowski.

Bayern were forced to play without injured Luca Toni of Italy. Ribery, Bayern's most expensive transfer in their history at 25 million euros, was also injured and considered doubtful but he played a superb debut match for his new club.

In Saturday's other match in front of 51,300 spectators in Duesseldorf, Schalke advanced by squeaking past Karlsruhe 1-0. Turkey's Halil Altintop took advantage of a Karlsruhe defensive blunder to score the winner in the 35th minute.

The six-team tournament, with 5.2 million euros ($7.2 million) prize money, involves last season's Bundesliga top four, German Cup winners Nuremberg and second division champions Karlsruhe. It ends with the final in Leipzig next Saturday.