Ice cold, ripped off, really good: SC Freiburg snatched Hamburger SV from all dreams of the title and is in the final of the DFB Cup for the first time in the club’s history.
Coach Christian Streich’s team won the semi-finals at the second division after a confident performance 3-1 (3-0) and reached for the golden pot on May 21 in Berlin.
The Freiburg goals in front of 57,000 spectators in the Volksparkstadion were scored by Nils Petersen (11th), Nicolas Höfler (17th) and Vincenzo Grifo (35th / penalty kick). Robert Glatzel shortened for HSV (88th).
“It’s indescribable. We’re making history, SC Freiburg has never done that before,” said goal scorer Nicolas Höfler on “ARD”: “We can still achieve a lot. I don’t care who we play in the final.”
“If we don’t win, at least we were in Berlin”
“I can’t even tell you what was going through my head,” explained Streich, who is now about to crown his life’s work: “It sounds strange, but some of my boys were already in the A youth final, then have we always watched the pros. I have no concerns that they will be too nervous. And if we don’t win, at least we were in Berlin.”
The last opponent of the Breisgauer before the possible first major title in the club’s history is RB Leipzig or Union Berlin, who face each other in the second semi-final on Wednesday (8:45 p.m. / ARD and Sky). Coach Streich, the longest-serving of all Bundesliga coaches, could crown his life’s work at SC in the capital.
HSV, on the other hand, had to bury its hopes of reaching the final for the first time since 1987, the semi-final curse of the Rothosen continues. Since the cup victory 35 years ago, the last title of the former Bundesliga dinosaurs, the Hanseatic League was in the semi-finals for the fifth time, but the dream of a fourth title after 1963, 1976 and 1987 burst again.
“The roles are clearly divided,” said HSV coach Tim Walter before the game. Freiburg is on the way to the Champions League, his team as the second division team is the “challenger” – and it was precisely this class difference that became clear from the start on Tuesday evening.
The sixth in the second division, who will probably miss the return of the Bundesliga for the fourth time in a row, made a powerful start in the Volksparkstadion, which was sold out for the first time in over two years, and brought the arena down with first half chances through Robert Glatzel (5th) and Sonny Kittel (6th). .) early to tremble. But SC oldie Petersen noticeably turned down the volume of the HSV fans with the first Freiburg chance.
Schweinsteiger understands “every HSV fan”
The attacker took advantage of the disorder in Hamburg’s defense after a corner kick and scored his 12th goal for SC in the DFB Cup with a header – he drew level with Alexander Iashvili as the Freiburg Cup record scorer.
And it got even better from the guests’ point of view. After a ricochet from HSV keeper Daniel Heuer Fernandes, Höfler didn’t hesitate and made things clear after just over 15 minutes with his deflected shot.
While the 5,000 or so Freiburg fans who had traveled with them were singing about Berlin for a long time, Anssi Tapio Suhonen (26th), who was completely free, had a great chance to score from ten meters from Hamburg. Instead of heating up the HSV party again, Grifo silenced the majority of the audience with the 0: 3 before the break.
Because HSV defender Moritz Heyer unluckily hit the back of Nico Schlotterbeck’s head when trying to clear it, Deniz Aytekin pointed to the point according to the video images. “I understand every HSV fan who says that it’s not a penalty, but that’s how the rules are,” judged “ARD” expert Bastian Schweinsteiger.
SC Freiburg in the footsteps of FC Bayern
By the way, with the 3-0 at half-time, SC Freiburg is following in the footsteps of FC Bayern: The Breisgauers are only the second team after Munich to score three goals away from home in the semi-finals of the German Soccer Cup before the break. In 1984 FC Bayern led Schalke 3-2 after the first half. The game ended 6:6 after overtime. FCB won the replay 3-2.
In the second half, HSV made a real effort and created a few chances. But Freiburg didn’t let anything burn and managed the lead without getting into big trouble. Glatzel at least rewarded HSV with his goal before Ermedin Demirovic hit the post on the other side (90′).