SC Freiburg are through to the quarter-finals of the DFB Cup. The Breisgau side won 4:1 at TSG Hoffenheim
Hoffenheim coach Sebastian Hoeneß brought Rutter and Stiller into the first eleven after the 2-1 away defeat at Union Berlin. Kramaric and Dabbur had to watch from the bench for the time being.
SC coach Christian Streich made five changes compared to the 1:5 defeat at BVB: With Nico Schlotterbeck and Mark Flekken, two key players returned. Eggestein, Schade and Demirovic also moved into the starting eleven. Uphoff, Gulde, Haberer, Sallai and Jeong were relegated to the bench.
A dream start for Freiburg – Grifo scores a brace
Freiburg started with a lot of ball control and hardly gave the home side the ball in the opening minutes. With the first real scoring chance, SC took the lead: Grifo, who had initiated the counter attack himself, received the ball from Höler on the left side and shot into the right corner (10th minute).
Hoffenheim then became more active and also had chances: Stiller just missed with a low shot (31.). Shortly afterwards, however, referee Robert Schröder (Hannover) pointed to the spot – Freiburg were awarded a penalty after Bebou had handled the ball in his own penalty area. Grifo stepped up and converted safely (36.).
Kramaric brings new momentum, but Hoffenheim’s hopes are only brief
Hoffenheim had to go into the break with the two-goal deficit, but came out of the dressing room aggressive and with a strong drive for goal. Hoeneß brought on Dabbur and Kramaric. The Croatian in particular was on the alert from the start, immediately initiating several dangerous actions and a little later the equaliser: his cross was deflected into his own goal by Schlotterbeck (53rd).
TSG were very pressured in this second half, but Freiburg managed the immediate answer to the Hoffenheim goal: Schade finished with a left-footed shot only two minutes later (55.). Schröder initially disallowed the goal because of a supposed offside position, but was corrected by the video assistant.
At first, Hoffenheim recovered well from the 1:3 blow. But the home side missed some top-class chances, such as the double opportunity by Richards and Dabbur (64th). The next effective goal was then tantamount to the preliminary decision: Freiburg again played out a counter-attack well, in the end Demirovic was the scorer from close range (68.).
Apart from Bebou’s supposed goal in the 88th minute, which was not given due to an offside position, Hoffenheim did not manage much more in the following. Thanks to a concentrated performance, Freiburg reached the DFB Cup quarter-finals – as one of only four Bundesliga teams.
Hoffenheim’s league campaign continues on Saturday (3.30 p.m.) at home against BVB. Freiburg will host VfB Stuttgart at the same time.
