First handball Zoff, then outnumbered – and yet RB Leipzig celebrates after the penalty drama: The Saxon mentality monsters have fought against all odds to win the first DFB Cup.
Saxons, initially harmless, defeated SC Freiburg 4-2 on penalties in the final in Berlin on Saturday. For the Leipzig team, which was founded in 2009, it is the first title in the club’s young history. After extra time it was 1: 1 (1: 1, 0: 1).
SC captain Christian Günter (over the goal) and Ermedin Demirovic (latte) failed on penalties. In regular time, RB star Christopher Nkunku (76th) equalized after Maximilian Eggestein (19th) had given Freiburg the lead.
Spicy: In front of the SC goal, the ball jumped into the hand of Roland Sallai, who was outstanding in the first round, but referee Sascha Stegemann gave the goal after consulting the video assistant. Marcel Halstenberg (57th) later saw the red card after an emergency brake.
But because RB put away these dampers, an eventful season ends with the really big triumph. The weak start to the season, the preliminary round in the Champions League and the misunderstanding with ex-coach Jesse Marsch are forgotten.
His successor Domenico Tedesco, who arrived in December, not only bought the premier class ticket in the Bundesliga and led the club to the semi-finals of the Europa League. After final bankruptcies in 2019 and 2021, he also gave the club the first trophy for the showcase.
RB Leipzig comes back outnumbered
Freiburg has to wait for the big trophy, at least for the professionals. SC coach Christian Streich, in office since 2011, had already won the trophy three times with the Freiburg A-Juniors. It wasn’t enough this time, although Streich had already emphasized before the game that “the world wouldn’t end” either. It remains a strong season for the Breisgauer, who had reached the Europa League in sixth place in the Bundesliga.
In front of 74,322 spectators, Tedesco relied on semi-final hero Emil Forsberg on the offensive, who had only headed RB against Union Berlin in the final. But together with star players Nkunku and Andre Silva, he found it difficult to get through against a well-organized SC defense.
In fact, Freiburg had more of the game at first until Forsberg (14′) tested SC goalkeeper Mark Flekken from an acute angle. Only five minutes later, Eggestein missed the Leipzigers the first blow in the neck.
A cross from Christian Günter landed in a roundabout way at the former Bremen player, Sallai jumped the ball before Eggestein flicked it into the left corner of the goal. But the goal counted.
And now the game picked up a little more speed. After a chain of Freiburg mistakes, the ball suddenly landed on Nkunku (24′), whose shot Flekken could only deflect towards the goal line. Freiburg’s Nico Schlotterbeck, who cheered wildly after the rescue operation, only clarified at the last moment.
SC Freiburg desperate for aluminum
Tedesco was hardly satisfied that this was Leipzig’s most dangerous offensive action in the first round. Only after the half-time break did the Bundesliga fourth become more active. Again Nkunku (50th) failed at Flekken before Halstenberg did his team a disservice. As the last man, he fouled Lucas Höler – Rot. Freiburg then ran and hit the side netting twice through Sallai (59th) and Vincenzo Grifo (60th).
But Leipzig didn’t give in, after a blocked free kick, Willi Orban extended a cross from Konrad Laimer – Nkunku was spot on and executed and enabled RB to extend, in which Freiburg immediately drew attention. Substitute Ermedin Demirovic (92nd) headed to the post after a Günter corner. Janik Haberer (104th, 115th) also hit aluminum twice afterwards.
After a duel between Höfler and Dani Olmo, Stegemann decided against a Leipzig penalty (119th) according to the video images. On the RB bench, Kevin Kampl, who had been replaced, saw yellow-red after complaining (118th).