It took 120 minutes and penalties to separate the Bundesliga and third-division side on Tuesday night in an enthralling cup tie. Both sides managed to score last-ditch equalisers before SC eventually sealed their place in the next round by winning a penalty shootout at the Bremer Brücke.

“We did well in the first half and deservedly took the lead. Osnabrück then got stronger and stronger. The atmosphere was incredible – it was really tough for us,” said Christian Streich after the game. “We had problems but came back, which is a testament to us. We were the lucky ones in the end. Fair to play Osnabrück, it was a great evening of football,” summed up the coach.

Late injury problem for SC

There were three changes to the team that won at VfL Wolfsburg at the weekend. Benjamin Uphoff was given a chance in goal, replacing Mark Flekken. Keven Schlotterbeck took Manuel Gulde’s place at centre-back and Emerdin Demirovic came in for Wooyeong Jeong. Nicolas Höfler then pulled out of the team at the last minute with muscular problems. Janik Haberer was chosen to begin the game instead as Freiburg went with a 3-4-3 once again.

VfL coach Daniel Scherning went with the same team that drew 0-0 against Halle last weekend. The side currently fourth in the 3. Liga played with a 4-3-3 formation.

Bremer Brücke was bouncing

On the back of some pyrotechnics in the home end, the game kicked off at a high intensity. SC’s players were given no time on the ball in their own half, as the hosts played at an extremely high tempo.

It took Streich’s side a few minutes to adjust to this intense style of play, but once they did, they managed to deal well with their pressing. The first shot on goal came from Christian Günter after a backheel from Vincenzo Grifo (8’).

Unfortunately, the game ended early for Philipp Lienhart after 24 minutes. After suffering a blow to his head, he went off for Manuel Gulde.

Grifo makes it 1-0

In a game full of challenges in the midfield, a goalkeeping error allowed Freiburg to go ahead. A fairly harmless looking ball into the box found Lucas Höler before the goalkeeper rushed out of his goal. Höler stayed calm and played it to Vincenzo Grifo outside the box. He curled the ball towards goal and it flew into the empty net (33’).

At the other end, Benjamin Uphoff made a great save from Marc Heider from close range to keep SC ahead (36’). That began a period of dominance for VfL, which Freiburg managed to withstand and even almost scored through a Nico Schlotterbeck header (45’).

With no changes for either side, the second half began in a similar manner. Osnabrück pressed Freiburg high up the pitch and the fans looked to get behind their team as much as they could.

Osnabrück get their equaliser

Ermedin Demirovic had Freiburg’s first chance of the second half, though he couldn’t beat Philipp Kühn (51’). 10 minutes later, after some good play together with Janik Haberer, Lukas Kübler couldn’t hit the target (61’). The third-tier side’s best moment during this period was a free-kick from Ba-Muaka Simakala that whistled past the post (76’).

The final stages were full of stoppages, with constant fouls and injury breaks somewhat ruining the flow of the game. As the clock ticked away, VfL equalised at the death from a set piece. Lukas Gugganig headed in from a corner to take the game to extra time (97’).

Late equaliser, Uphoff the hero in the shootout

And so another 30 minutes were in store on this autumnal Tuesday evening in Osnabrück. In the first period, the seemingly indefatigable hosts created the better chances (92’, 101’) and took the lead just after the whistle. Sebastian Klaas gave SCF goalkeeper Benjamin Uphoff no chance with a powerful shot from the edge of the box (109’). Freiburg fought back until the end, playing the last five minutes with an extra man as Simakala received his marching orders after a second yellow card, as they equalised just before the final whistle. Keven Schlotterbeck nodded in Lucas Höler’s cross in the 120th minute of play.

The game went to penalties at the Bremer Brücke, and Benjamin Uphoff, the man of the match, decided to take matters into his own hands. The Freiburg goalkeeper saved the first penalty from Florian Kleinhansl excellently, before keeping out Osnabrück’s final two spot-kicks from Davide Itter and Andrew Wooten. In the meantime, Christian Günter, Maximilian Eggestein and Keven Schlotterbeck all scored confidently from 12 yards, meaning that SCF ended the evening in celebration with the 400 travelling fans and a place in the last 16 of the DFB-Pokal.

Photo: Bernd Thissen