Lucas Höler took a deep breath, took two steps and humorlessly nailed the ball under the crossbar. It was a shot that really hurt Bayern Munich. The penalty that made SC Freiburg 2-1 in added time in the quarter-finals sealed Bayern’s exit from the DFB Cup.
The people of Munich have to bury the dream of a triple early on. Thomas Tuchel conceded his first defeat in his second game as Bayern’s new coach. It’s a defeat that he and his team can’t make up for. Bayern missed the cup final in Berlin for the third time in a row.
“It’s very bitter. It’s not easy to analyze. There is anger at this result. We didn’t play a bad game. We lacked a bit of precision and playfulness today. Freiburg made it too difficult for us, we obviously lacked the wit. You are now standing there with this heap of broken glass and you know that the DFB Cup is over for this year. Of course, that scratches my sense of honor,” said Thomas Müller.
Bayern ran especially in the second half and pushed Freiburg into their own half. But the constant pressure didn’t result in chances or even goals. Again and again the passionately fighting Freiburgers were in between with a tackle. Again and again, Bayern made inaccuracies with the last pass, so they didn’t create any real chances.
The changes from Tuchel were not fruitful. He brought on Serge Gnabry and Jamal Musiala on offense after the break. But they couldn’t use their speed either. Musiala even became a tragic figure when he conceded a penalty in the fourth minute of added time.
So even after Julian Nagelsmann was released, the Munich team showed their old problems again. Successor Tuchel has not yet been able to correct the pass inaccuracies in the front third. Nagelsmann was also dismissed because the Bayern bosses saw the club’s goals at risk – one goal was winning the DFB Cup.
“We got two goals from two long-range shots. I didn’t see more chances from Freiburg. We started well and had very good phases. But we’re having a hard time keeping up the pace. In the end it’s our own fault. We are extremely disappointed to be eliminated from a home game in the quarter-finals. Of course I’m responsible now, nobody else. We gave ourselves a day off tomorrow because the national players in particular need to sleep in and not come to Säbener Straße,” said Tuchel.
The 49-year-old congratulated the Freiburgers fairly, who celebrated exuberantly in front of the away crowd. “This is unbeliveable. We scored the goal in Munich in the 94th minute. It couldn’t be much nicer,” said Maximilian Eggestein.