DFB Cup final with 911 thriller: Leipzig beats Freiburg and wins the cup

RB Leipzig is the DFB Cup winner for the first time in the club’s young history. Domenico Tedesco’s team defeated SC Freiburg on penalties on Saturday evening. After 120 minutes it was 1-1, Freiburg had led to the break.

Maximilian Eggestein put the Breisgauer in front after 19 minutes. Leipzig’s Marcel Halstenberg had to leave the pitch with a smooth red twelve minutes after the restart due to an emergency brake and caused particularly bad conditions for RB.

But even outnumbered, the Saxons showed morale and pushed for an equalizer. In the person of Nkunku, he then succeeded in minute 76. Afterwards, Leipzig almost turned the game around completely. In the extra time, Freiburg took over the command again and Leipzig gradually limited itself more and more to the defense.

Excitement about penalty decision

Shortly before the end there was excitement again about a tricky penalty decision. With the help of numerous camera angles, the referee team was able to determine that Freiburg’s Höfler had played the ball very delicately in a very risky game against Olmo in their own penalty area and the whistle had rightly failed to sound.

The 1-0 win in Freiburg had already been highly controversial. The ball jumped clearly to Sallai’s hand and from there to Eggestein, who scored directly. No intention, decided the team and since not Sallai himself but another player had scored the goal, then also in accordance with the rules.

In the penalty shootout, the RB kickers ultimately proved their better nerves from the point in front of almost 75,000 spectators in the sold-out Berlin Olympic Stadium. With captain Christian Günther and Ermedin Demirovic, two Freiburg shooters lost their nerve. Günther shot over the box, Demirovic nailed the ball to the crossbar.