Freiburg had thrown everything at the game, going into every tackle and pushing through the pain of tired legs. That was until the 119th minute of the contest, when their dream of reaching a cup final lay in tatters after conceding the latest of winners. With the potential for both a penalty and a goal to have been awarded to the away side during the course of proceedings, the disappointment come the final whistle was certainly understandable.

“It is tough to take that our DFB-Pokal run ends in such fashion”, said Julian Schuster, but the head coach also focused on the positive elements to be taken from the evening: “I saw this as the next step in our development, that we were able to produce the performance we did against this opposition and in this stadium. This evening will only make us stronger! It’s allowed to hurt, but we will then approach our coming challenges with even more confidence and determination.”

Müller between the sticks once again

Schuster had announced in the lead-up to the tie that Florian Müller would once again feature in goal for Freiburg in place of Noah Atubolu, as he had in each of the previous rounds of the cup. Along with the change between the posts, the coaching staff made a further five changes from the team which began the weekend’s win at home to Heidenheim: Philipp Treu, Philipp Lienhart, Jordy Makengo, Niklas Beste and Yuito Suzuki came in for Lukas Kübler, Bruno Ogbus, Christian Günter, Derry Scherhant and Lucas Höler.

VfB Stuttgart were the opposition and changed their starting line-up four-fold from the side that lost to the new, but also old, German league champions from Munich. Tiago Tomás, Bilal El Khannouss, Finn Jeltsch and Josha Vagnoman all made way as Maximilian Mittelstädt, Deniz Undav, Ermedin Demirovic and Nikolas Nartey featured from the off.

Heated opening exchanges

SC began the semi-final clash with the same vigour and courage as they have demonstrated in recent weeks. The hosts matched the intensity, however, and fired off the game’s first shot from distance through Deniz Undav, albeit well over the bar.

Referee Tobias Welz was quick to go to his book in a contest fired up by both sets of fans, handing out early yellow cards to Makengo and Johan Manzambi, as well as Nartey and Josha Leweling. Nevertheless, the official refrained from blowing for a foul when Maximilian Eggestein went to ground inside the penalty area – a decision that certainly provided cause for discussion (17’).

Eggestein nets the opener

With 20 minutes played, SC had a good foothold in the game, but little sense of flow was able to really be mustered due to the repeated stoppages. The fact that Freiburg’s opener would arrive from a set-piece was fitting, as a result. A Niklas Beste corner found the head of Matthias Ginter at the far post, whose knock down was met by the outstretched leg of Eggestein on the six-yard line for 1-0 (28’).

The away block had been in euphoric mood even before the goal, spurring the Freiburg players on ahead of the match with a choreo that read: “Our team – our dream”. The 6,000 visiting fans rightly celebrated that opener wildly after travelling for a late kick-off on a work night and witnessed their side defend resolutely for the majority of the remainder of the first half.  

The next moment of threat from Stuttgart arrived on 40 minutes, as Demirovic sent a volleyed effort narrowly over the crossbar from just inside the box. After Igor Matanovic then intervened in the nick of time to stop Undav from getting a clean shot away from close range with the two minutes of added time nearly up, SC went into the break with the advantage.

Suzuki misses, Undav goes down the other end to score

Freiburg did survive their greatest scare to point shortly after the restart. Following a well-timed ball across the six-yard box, Chris Führich was presented with the chance to equalise, all alone at the back post. However, he missed the target by a good half-yard (48’).

Despite SC still giving as good as they were getting in terms of their own attacking pushes, they were made to be nervous by a further pair of moments halfway through the second period. Müller came up with a fine save to first deny Stiller on the line (60’) before being beaten by the midfielder’s try just two minutes later. The Stuttgart celebrations were short-lived, though, with Demirovic flagged for offside in the build-up.

Due to the plethora of chances that the home side had been creating, their leveller in the 70th minute appeared deserved; however, the fact that it directly followed a huge chance for Freiburg down the other end made it all the more frustrating. After Jeff Chabot’s block saved Suzuki’s shot from heading in, the swift resulting counter from the home team was rounded off by Undav, who gave Müller no chance with his shot into the far bottom corner.

With a host of recent midweek games weighing on the legs of the away side, the travelling fans would have been excused from simply wondering just how much longer their team could hold out. The cup holders neared came ever nearer their second goal in the remainder of regulation time and no closer than when Lienhart struck his own post (83’).

The referee’s whistle denies Höler

Müller twice showcased impressive reflexes in stoppage time to ensure the tie headed for an extra 30 minutes, a period which was to begin in controversial circumstances. Suzuki looked to play Höler in behind the back line, setting him off and running in a duel with Chabot. The striker robustly shrugged off the centre-half before clipping the ball past Nübel to seemingly make it 2-1. The referee disallowed the goal, however, blowing up for a foul from the forward, which sparked outrage from Freiburg players and coaches alike.

There was little time to dwell on that moment, though, as Führich would soon find only the upright when one-on-one with Müller (96’) before the stopper denied Bilal El Khannouss just minutes later after the Stuttgart man had broken through on goal (103’).

The final 15 minutes of extra time were dominated by defensive work from Freiburg’s perspective. There was little reprieve to be found as wave after wave of Stuttgart attacks rained on the visitors’ goal. The back line held out as a collective unit until almost the very last moment, when Tiago Tomás ended Freiburg’s dream of a cup final with his winning goal (119’).

Photo: SC Freiburg