Stuttgart head coach Sebastian Hoeness hailed the team’s fight as they reached a second consecutive DFB-Pokal final with an extra-time win over Freiburg.
Stuttgart triumphed 2-1 after the extra period, with Tiago Tomas coming off the bench to flick home the decisive winner in the 119th minute to tee up a meeting with Bayern Munich in the showpiece.
Maximilian Eggestein had given Freiburg the lead just before the half-hour mark, but Deniz Undav equalised 70 minutes in to force extra time.
Stuttgart have reached the DFB-Pokal final two years in a row for the first time in club history, having lifted the trophy last season.
They have also won their last seven cup games that have gone to extra time, and Hoeness was delighted with the fighting spirit his side showed in coming from behind to win.
“It was a very intense game; it was incredibly tense, and at the end there was an outpouring of emotion,” he said.
“In my opinion, we deserve to be going to the final in Berlin given the greater number of clear-cut chances we created. My team deserve a great deal of praise for producing a battling cup performance like that.
“I’m super happy. It was a difficult game for us since we needed something to get in.”
Stuttgart created 4.2 expected goals (xG) from 29 attempts, with Freiburg racking up 2.5 xG from their 18 shots.
However, Freiburg could have retaken their lead in the first minute of extra time, with Lucas Holer through on goal, but the referee pulled play back, blowing the whistle early.
The decision was for a foul by Holer on Jeff Chabot in the build-up, as the striker tried to get his body in front of the defender.
Though Freiburg head coach Julian Schuster was disappointed with their DFB-Pokal exit so close to the final, he chose to see the positives from their performance.
“It is tough to take that our DFB-Pokal run ends in such fashion,” he said.
“I saw this as the next step in our development, that we were able to produce the performance we did against this opposition and in this stadium.
“This evening will only make us stronger! It’s allowed to hurt, but we will then approach our coming challenges with even more confidence and determination.”