Florian Müller the hero as Freiburg end Hertha’s Pokal dreams on penalties

After a 1-1 stalemate through 120 minutes, the Breisgauers’ second-choice goalkeeper Florian Müller made himself the star of the penalty shootout by guessing correctly twice to seal victory for Freiburg.

With a dramatic 4-3 penalty shootout victory over Hertha BSC at the Olympiastadion tonight, SC Freiburg kept their DFB-Pokal dreams alive by advancing to the semi-final stage – Florian Müller was the hero, saving two spot-kicks.

The sides exchanged early chances as Yuito Suzuki fired wide and Marten Winkler was off target from a Julian Eitschberger cross. The latter would be involved in 7th-minute drama as Hertha appeared to take an early lead. 

Dawid Kownacki’s header, initially well saved by Florian Müller, was bundled to the net by Fabian Reese. Ultimately, celebrations in the Olympiastadion were cut short by VAR which captured Eitschberger in an offside position.

Perhaps the pick of the first-half chances fell to Freiburg on 20 minutes. Ex-Hertha winger Derry Scherhant skipped past Eitschberger to pull the trigger from close range – Tjark Ernst bravely closed down the angle to parry. 

Shortly before the interval, both goalkeepers were kept honest. Linus Gechter’s glancing header couldn’t escape the gloves of Müller, while 22-year-old Ernst diverted a venomous Suzuki snapshot away from danger. 

The second-half passed by with little to no talking points. Late introductions like BSC’s winter signing Josip Brekalo and Vincenzo Grifo of Freiburg injected some life into the tie but extra-time became inevitable.

After a sublime Müller save to deny Cuisance, Hertha became architects of their own downfall. Gechter’s tame back-pass to Ernst, picked off by Suzuki, left the shot-stopper stranded to drill into an empty net. 

In an incredible twist, Suzuki was next to give a stray ball which led to parity. The counterattack culminated in Reese finding space to shoot. The Hertha captain stunningly delivered a rocket into the top-left corner from range.

With nothing to separate them in extra-time, a dreaded penalty shootout ensued. While Ernst got fingertips to both Grifo and Eggestein’s spot-kicks, the third takers for both sides would lead to heightened nerves.

After Müller saved Cuisance’s penalty, Johan Manzambi couldn’t get the better of Ernst who guessed correctly. The shootout rolled on to the fifth and final set, where Pascal Klemens fell to his knees after Müller’s save sent Hertha out while Freiburg a marched on.