Referee Sascha Stegemann gave the goal, the video assistant referees Sören Storks and Christian Gittelmann saw no reason for complaint here because Sallai was not supposed to have any intention and the ball jumped from his own foot to his hand. But since the hand was spread far away from the body and the body surface was significantly larger, nobody should have complained about a whistle.
Eggestein uses his second cup chance
Curious: Goal scorer Eggestein was actually already eliminated this cup season: In the first round he failed with Werder Bremen at VfL Osnabrück, but then switched to Freiburg, then eliminated Osnabrück with the sports club of all places and then made it to this final.
Also astonishing: Your own leadership triggered total uncertainty in Christian Streich’s team. Especially on the defensive, some outrageous mistakes crept in.
Höfler in luck after a double blunder
In the 24th minute, the experienced Nicolas Höfler played a bad pass, which Nkunku didn’t take advantage of. Immediately afterwards, Höfler wanted to clear the scene by returning a header to Flekken, but the ball starved halfway: Nkunku shot at Flekken, and the outstanding Nico Schlotterbeck cleared before the line – and celebrated the scene like a goal.
Shortly before the break, Nkunku had the opportunity to equalize again, but this time wanted to play across from the best position instead of completing himself – so Schlotterbeck was able to clear again.
Halstenberg with total blackout
In the second round, the Freiburg defense caught up, Leipzig hardly had any chances – and in the 57th minute they were countered with serious consequences. After a long ball to the front, Marcel Halstenberg initially lost the aerial duel against Lucas Höler, who then ran away from him. Although Höler still had a long way to go, Halstenberg was the last man to pull him down by the shoulder – Stegemann had no choice but to receive a red card.
After that, Freiburg put on constant pressure and wanted to make it 2-0 as quickly as possible. But Vincezo Grifo only hit the side netting, Sallai failed shortly afterwards by Leipzig keeper Peter Gulacsi.
Outnumbered compensation
However, Leipzig survived this phase and had an answer fifteen minutes before the end. After a blocked free kick by Dominik Szoboszlai, Willi Orban sent the ball to the far post, where Nkunku launched and scrambled the ball over the line to make it 1-1.
With one man less, RB suddenly had the upper hand again. With ten minutes remaining, Flekken had to make two brilliant saves against Szoboszlai and Nkunku, and in the 85th minute Dani Olmo shot just wide of the winning goal with a low shot.
Demirovic and Haberer hit the post
RB coach Domenico Tedesco frenetically celebrated the final whistle and thus reaching extra time, but then quickly had to endure a moment of shock: A header from Ermedin Demirovic landed on the left Leipzig post.
And the aluminum helped Leipzig: In the 104th minute, Gulacsi deflected a long-range shot from Jannik Haberer superbly onto the post, and Demirovic shot the follow-up shot over the empty goal. Five minutes before the end, Haberer had the winning goal on his instep again: This time the crossbar kept RB in the game.
Mini touch of the ball – no penalty whistle
Things got tricky again in the 119th minute: Höfler straddled Olmo’s legs in his own penalty area, while Stegmann watched the scene on the video screen. The felt tenth slow motion then showed a mini-touch of the ball before the foul – that’s why there was rightly no penalty.
Eight more followed, two of which Freiburg missed: Günter threw the ball over the goal, Demirovic failed on the bottom edge of the bar.