On Wednesday evening, three of the decisive moments came shortly after Lucas Höler made it 2-0. Florian Müller, whom Julian Schuster announced would start at the pre-match press conference, impressed three times in the space of 120 seconds. After coming into the side in place of Noah Atubolu, Müller denied Darmstadt’s Matej Maglica twice from close-range headers, and then a third time from the centre-back’s effort from distance. His superb reflexes prevented the visitors from halving the deficit as they piled on the pressure.

His manager was full of praise for his performance after the game. “We’re pleased that we had Flo in goal today. He played well, which was what we expected after his performances in training,” said Schuster.

Three changes for SCF, four for Darmstadt

The Freiburg coaching staff made three changes from the side who resoundingly beat Mainz in the league last time out. Christian Günter came in for Philipp Treu at left-back, while Max Rosenfelder replaced Philipp Lienhart in central defence. Lienhart was left out of the squad to manage his workload. As Schuster confirmed he would before the game, Florian Müller started in place of Noah Atubolu.

The Lilies made four alterations from their 0-0 draw at Elversberg. Matthias Bader, Matej Maglica, Merveille Papela and Marco Richter came in for Sergio Lopez, Aleksandar Vukotic, Fabian Nürnberger (who missed out with illness) and Fraser Hornby (unavailable due to a muscle strain).

A cagey opening

The 2. Bundesliga’s fifth-placed side were unbeaten in five games and had lost just one of their last ten league matches. They initially focused on keeping the game tight and set up with 11 players in their own half when Freiburg were in possession. This led to long periods of possession for SC, who made inroads into the final third with their multifaceted attacking play. In the 11th minute, the hosts had the first good opportunity of the evening through Vincenzo Grifo’s blocked strike from around eight yards out.

However, Darmstadt’s well-organised defence allowed SCF few other clearcut chances before the midpoint of the first half. As Freiburg were also alert and able to snuff out the visitors’ few excursions into their half, the approximately 30,000 spectators at the Europa-Park Stadion had to wait patiently for more goalmouth action.

In the 27th minute, Bader called Müller into action with a powerful and well-placed effort from around 13 yards. The goalkeeper made an excellent flying save. There was then action at the other end a few minutes later, when Johan Manzambi went down after a challenge on the edge of the box. However, the penalty was not awarded after a quick VAR check (36’).

Grifo scores from the spot and Höler keeps his cool

Instead, SC were handed a penalty kick four minutes later. Just before, Manzambi had had Freiburg’s best chance up to that point with a shot from close range. He was then fouled in the box by Pfeiffer. Grifo stepped up and hammered the ball into the top left-hand corner, leaving Marcel Schuhen with no chance (42’). Therefore, SCF led 1-0 at the break.

There were no changes from either side at half time. The visitors started with a much more courageous approach, pressing SC higher and playing a lot of diagonal passes to stretch the Freiburg backline. They initially could not carve out goalscoring chances, but the game was definitely more open than in the first period.

SCF continued to control proceedings, but were now finding it difficult to advance into the final third. Despite this, the home fans at the Europa-Park Stadion were celebrating wildly again in the 69th minute. Grifo set Höler in on goal with an excellent through ball, and he kept his cool to get the better of Schuhen in a one-on-one.

Florian Kohfeldt’s side were not perturbed by conceding a second. On the contrary, they soon forced Müller into the aforementioned three stops. The goalkeeper had to make three excellent saves to preserve the clean sheet.

A penalty off the bar, a disallowed goal and a red card

Ten minutes from time, VAR intervened once again. Substitute Treu advanced into the penalty area and was caught by Sergio Lopez. After viewing the footage, Harm Osmers pointed to the spot. Grifo stepped up again, but his powerful attempt hit the bar.

The closing stages were certainly eventful. Maximilian Eggestein looked to have made it 3-0, but the goal was chalked off for offside (88’). Then, the referee showed Darmstadt’s Maglica a second yellow card for a reckless challenge on Junior Adamu in the build-up to the disallowed goal.

SC comfortably saw out the four minutes of injury time with an extra player, and reached the quarter-finals after a generally dominant display against the in-form visitors. “I’m delighted that we’re into the next round. I think it’s good to have experience playing against teams who sit deep, and we remained patient when we had the ball. I also have to compliment Darmstadt on their performance. They made us work extremely hard today,” said Schuster after the game.

Freiburg will discover their quarter-final opponents at the draw on Sunday (19:15 CET). This will be held as part of ARD’s Sportschau programme.

David Hildebrandt

Photo: SC Freiburg