News (engl.)

VfB Stuttgart last night sealed their place in the eighth DFB-Pokal final in the club’s history, where the reigning cup champions will be determined to defend their crown. Following extra time, the Swabians secured a 2-1 victory over league rivals SC Freiburg in front of a home crowd of 60,000 spectators, successfully booking their place at Berlin’s Olympiastadion on 23rd May, where they’ll face record cup winners FC Bayern München. Maximilian Eggestein put the visitors ahead after 28 minutes, before Deniz Undav managed to come up with the leveller with 20 minutes of normal time left to play. It was Tiago Tomás who managed to find the elusive deciding goal in Stuttgart’s favour, netting in the 119th minute to give his side the crucial win.

Both teams looked eager to play on the front foot in this all-Baden-Württemberg clash. An evenly-matched opening phase was marked more by fierce duels and yellow cards than any serious opportunities to open the scoring, though. It looked that way until the 17th minute, when SC’s Eggestein found himself attempting the first threatening strike of the game following neat build-up work from Vincenzo Grifo. The midfielder was denied his moment of glory for the time being, with Alexander Nübel blocking the shot impressively. Yuito Suzuki looked like causing problems moments later as Freiburg worked up a three-on-three situation, although Maximilian Mittelstädt and Angelo Stiller did well to shut down any attempts to find a teammate, and VfB succeeded in clearing the danger (23’).

SC’s courage pays off through Eggestein

The hosts responded by starting to pin Freiburg in their own penalty area, but the decisive final ball was lacking on that occasion. In the middle of this dominant phase for Stuttgart, the visitors managed to steal a lead through a corner. Matthias Ginter attempted to head his side in front following Grifo’s corner, and the glancing effort was helped along its way by a deft touch from Eggestein (28’). With the lead secured, SC focused more on the defensive side of their game and allowed VfB to dominate the ball, with the hosts working up their first real chance on 40 minutes. Ermedin Demirovic found himself in a good position to try and level proceedings following Deniz Undav’s dinked ball into the middle, although the striker’s attempt sailed roughly a meter over the bar and out for a goal kick.

Stuttgart worked up serious momentum in the final stage of the first half, with Jamie Leweling the next to look like finding a crucial equaliser. As Deniz Undav let the former’s low ball into the box pass him by, his fellow Germany international almost took Freiburg by surprise, with the driven effort only narrowly missing the far post. It was Undav himself who had a big chance just before the break, although Igor Matanovic did well to block the shot (45+3’).

Stuttgart apply the pressure and get their reward

VfB picked up right where they’d left off before the break, quickly creating their next dangerous chance. Leweling teed up Chris Führich with a slide-rule pass across the box, although the unmarked forward couldn’t connect cleanly enough to tap the delivery home, and scuffed the ball wide of the far post (49’). Having withstood an intense five minutes of pressure following the restart, Freiburg managed to come up with their next attempt, this time through Johan Manzambi. VfB centre-half Jess Chabot was able to clear the danger, though, denying his opponent a promising opportunity to double SC’s lead (55’).

The home side quickly took back control of the game and pushed hard for an equaliser. On the hour mark, Angelo Stiller looked like finding just that as he poked an Undav Cross towards goal from close range, although Freiburg’s keeper Florian Müller reacted brilliantly to get down in time and stop the ball on the goalline. Two minutes later, the midfielder did succeed in finding the back of the net, although the strike was chalked off as Demirovic had been caught offside in the lead-up to the goal. At the 70-minute mark, though, VfB had plenty to cheer about. First, Chabot denied Suzuki from a few yards out, before the hosts hit hard and fast on the break through Bilal El Khannouss, who laid the ball off to Undav at the edge of the box, and the forward struck true to finally gift the home crowd a desperately desired leveller.

Tomás wins it at the death

The game slowed down somewhat following the intense proceedings, although Stuttgart remained the markedly more attacking-minded of the two teams. Philipp Lienhart got a foot in the way of a VfB cross, and the deflection sent the delivery rolling dangerously towards his keeper’s near post, although luckily the ball rebounded off the woodwork (82’). Shortly before the end of regular time, Undav found himself with another opportunity to strike, although his effort whistled slightly wide of the post (89’). Führich once again looked to put himself on the scoresheet moments later, but Müller blocked the attempt (90+2’). The resulting corner sent pulses racing too, with El Khannouss missing the target by inches (90+3’). Stuttgart had one final chance to seal victory in normal time, with El Khannouss setting up Undav for a heroic moment, although the latter’s shot was too centrally placed to challenge Florian Müller (90+4’).

Hardly a minute of extra time had been played before Lucas Höler struck true to seemingly make it 2-1 to Freiburg, although the goal was disallowed after referee Tobias Welz judged there to have been a foul in the build-up to the attempt (91’). Führich looked to give his side the lead on 96 minutes, bursting past a number of Freiburg defenders, but his first-time attempt smacked the post and rebounded out. Shortly before the extra-time break, Müller pulled off yet another crucial stop in the Freiburg net, denying El Khannouss, who had been set up for a one-on-one with the shot-stopper after a dainty lay-off from Deniz Undav (103’).

The play was largely broken up through substitutions and stoppages in the final 15 minutes of the semi-final tie, with all signs pointing to a penalty shootout. Ultimately, though, spot-kicks were avoided through a Stuttgart winner in the dying moments. Tiago Tomás met Badredine Bouanani’s cross with an applause-worthy back-heeled volley, beating Müller to put VfB 2-1 up with little time for Freiburg to find a leveller. Christian Günter did try his luck before the final whistle, but the effort went narrowly wide in an agonising moment for the away fans (120+2’).