BERLIN – VfB Stuttgart defender Konstantinos Mavropanos left his teammates stunned as he scored a 48-metre own goal with a no-look pass in a German Cup clash against second-division side Paderborn on Tuesday.

The Greek international, 25, steered the ball from near the right touchline past his own goalkeeper Florian Muller after a fourth-minute throw in.

The German Football Federation tweeted it was the furthest distance for an own goal in the competition’s history.

To the former Arsenal man’s relief, Stuttgart fought back with late goals from Gil Dias and Serhou Guirassy to sneak a 2-1 win and reach the quarter-finals.

“It was a memorable start with the own goal. A real setback. Konstantinos will be telling his grandchildren about it,” Stuttgart sports director Fabian Wohlgemuth told Sky TV.

Mavropanos, who has two goals from his 15 games this season, would probably be forgiven for his mistake as he has been a key defender for Stuttgart in their fight to avoid relegation from the Bundesliga.

Muller would also have to take part of the blame for being way out of position and not being alert enough to the dangerous ball.

The victory was the first for new Stuttgart coach Bruno Labbadia in his fourth game in charge.

“You can’t begin a game any worse than we did today,” he said, without elaborating much on Mavropanos’ error and preferring to speak about the match.

“And it was tough to play against a team that defended with a lot of passion. In the first half, we didn’t make the most of the space they gave us. We were lacking the final ball and sometimes our movement patterns weren’t the best.

“However, I was pleased that we stayed patient. Our positioning was good, but we lacked the precision you need against a team defending as tightly as they were. We wanted to reach the quarter-finals and we did so, which we’re happy about.” REUTERS