RB Leipzig won their first major trophy, beating Freiburg on penalties to win the German Cup final after coming back from 1-0 down in normal time despite going down to 10 men.
Maximilian Eggestein’s goal looked to have given Freiburg victory in normal time, with Leipzig’s numbers reduced after Marcel Halstenberg’s red card.
But Christopher Nkunku struck with 15 minutes remaining to bring extra time.
Freiburg’s Christian Gunter and Ermedin Demirovic both missed in the shootout.
Leipzig, who had lost in the final in 2019 and 2021, had lost a second player to a red card near the end of extra time when Kevin Kampl, who had been substituted having already picked up a yellow card, was booked again for protesting when the referee turned down a penalty appeal for his side.
Despite losing in their first cup final appearance in their 118-year history, Freiburg can take some solace from having finished sixth in the Bundesliga to qualify for the Europa League next season.
Line-ups
Freiburg
Formation 5-3-2
- 26Flekken
- 17KüblerBooked at 81minsSubstituted forSchmidat 86′minutes
- 5GuldeSubstituted forSchlotterbeckat 105′minutes
- 3LienhartBooked at 90mins
- 4Schlotterbeck
- 30Günter
- 8EggesteinSubstituted forHabererat 86′minutes
- 27Höfler
- 32Grifo
- 9HölerSubstituted forPetersenat 79′minutes
- 22SallaiSubstituted forDemirovicat 79′minutesBooked at 113mins
Substitutes
- 1Uphoff
- 7Schmid
- 11Demirovic
- 18Petersen
- 19Haberer
- 25Sildillia
- 29Jeong
- 31Schlotterbeck
- 33Weißhaupt
RB Leipzig
Formation 3-4-2-1
- 1Gulácsi
- 2SimakanBooked at 58minsSubstituted forGvardiolat 113′minutes
- 4Orban
- 23HalstenbergBooked at 57mins
- 16Klostermann
- 27LaimerSubstituted forAdamsat 99′minutes
- 44KamplBooked at 118minsSubstituted forOlmoat 69′minutes
- 39Henrichs
- 10ForsbergBooked at 82minsSubstituted forMukieleat 61′minutes
- 18Nkunku
- 33André SilvaSubstituted forSzoboszlaiat 61′minutes
Substitutes
- 3Angelino
- 8Haïdara
- 9Poulsen
- 14Adams
- 17Szoboszlai
- 22Mukiele
- 25Olmo
- 31MartÃnez
- 32Gvardiol
- Referee:
- Sascha Stegemann
- Attendance:
- 74,322
