SCF’s Pokal meeting with the Old Lady was truly a match that had everything, including 120 minutes of action, 12 penalties and nail-biting tension until the very last kick. In the end, it also featured a happy ending for Freiburg. “This game today had everything. It was an amazing match. I’m proud that I could help the team in such an important game,” said a delighted Florian Müller after the final whistle. The goalkeeper, who had already made several excellent saves during the match, was the hero in the shoot-out after saving two spot kicks in front of the home fans.

Five changes and a packed away end

Julian Schuster made five changes to his starting eleven from the hard-fought 1-0 league victory over Werder Bremen. Müller started in goal, just as he did against Darmstadt and Düsseldorf in the previous Pokal rounds. He came in for Noah Atubolu. Philipp Treu, Derry Scherhant, Yuito Suzuki and Jordy Makengo, meanwhile, replaced Bruno Ogbus, Vincenzo Grifo, Johan Manzambi and Christian Günter.

56,743 fans had secured tickets for the quarter-final on Tuesday evening. A full 5,000 of them were on the side of the away fans, and they created a real cup atmosphere with an impressive display before the game.

The second-tier side made three alterations from their 3-0 win over Elversberg. Dawid Kownacki, Márton Dárdai and Julian Eitschberger came in for Jan-Luca Schuler, Pascal Klemens and Deyovaisio Zeefuik. SC dominated possession early on and Suzuki fired the first effort of the match narrowly over (3’).

Plenty of chances but no breakthrough

The hosts also made a strong start. Marten Winkler headed just wide in the fourth minute. Three minutes later, they looked to have taken the lead through Fabian Reese. Müller clawed a close-range header off the line, but the winger pounced to turn home the follow-up. However, the goal was disallowed for offside after a thorough VAR review.

This entertaining start led to a high-quality first half, in which SCF slowly began to gain the upper hand. Hertha often looked to attack through the centre or via their pacy right-sided players. Freiburg had a big opportunity to take the lead through Scherhant, who was returning to his old stomping ground. The attacker controlled a sublime chipped pass from Matthias Ginter and tried a shot on the turn, but it was saved by Tjark Ernst (20’). The Hertha ‘keeper also denied Suzuki (24’) and Igor Matanovic (30’).

Freiburg played with flexibility, patience and confidence on the ball, but always had to be wary of the Old Lady’s quick counterattacks. Shortly before half time, one of these counters led to a low shot from Michael Cuisance which went narrowly wide (43’). Two minutes later, Müller got down to save a header from Linus Gechter. Suzuki also saw his effort saved after a solo run in injury time, and it remained goalless at the break.

A keenly contested second half

While there were fewer goalscoring chances after the restart, it was still a very attractive game of football. Referee Patrick Ittrich allowed play to flow, so there were few breaks in the action as both sides strongly contested the match. The best chance of this period fell to Niklas Beste. A cross from substitute Vincenzo Grifo came off the back of Beste’s head and landed in the arms of Ernst (64’).

SC came much closer in the 70th minute. Suzuki won the ball back brilliantly in the penalty area and squared it to Grifo, whose deflected strike from the centre of the box looped towards the Hertha goal, but eventually dropped just inches wide. A free kick in a good position was then blocked by the home side’s wall. The match was going to extra time.

Reese cancels out Suzuki’s opener

In the 94th minute, Müller prevented his side from falling behind with a fantastic reflex save from Cuisance’s well-struck effort. Not long after, the travelling SCF support were celebrating the opening goal. While under pressure from Matanovic, Gechter underhit a back pass towards Ernst. Suzuki ran onto it and rounded the goalkeeper before slotting into the empty net from close range. He then made his way across the Olympiastadion’s tartan track to celebrate with the joyous away fans (96’).

This joy did not last for long, though. Just before half time in extra time, Reese had enough time to line up a shot on the edge of the box. He hammered it home from around 20 yards, leaving Müller with no chance. This equaliser meant that the momentum was on the side of the hosts for the final 15 minutes, but they could not find a second goal.

Then, the penalty shoot-out gave Freiburg’s Man of the Match his real moment in the spotlight. After Grifo, Ginter, Eggestein, Höler and Suzuki had all found the net for SC, it was Hertha’s sixth kick that proved decisive. Pascal Klemens aimed for the corner, but Müller made the save to send his teammates and the fans into pure elation.

Photo: Ottmar Winter