BAYERN MUNICH CRASHED out of the German Cup on Tuesday after Lucas Hoeler scored an injury-time penalty to earn Freiburg a 2-1 win and a place in the semi-finals.
Nicolas Hoefler cancelled out Dayot Upamecano’s opening goal for Bayern before Hoeler converted from the spot late on after Jamal Musiala handled in the box.
Freiburg lost last year’s final on penalties to RB Leipzig but Hoeler was nerveless, smashing home his kick to send his side through to the semis for the second year in a row.
Bayern, the record 20-time German Cup winners, have failed to reach the last four for the third consecutive year, while Freiburg hope to lift the trophy for the first time.
An “angry” Bayern captain Thomas Mueller said, “That certain something was missing… it’s very bitter.”
In his second game in charge, Bayern manager Thomas Tuchel said the team needed to take responsibility for the loss.
“I’m mega disappointed, but why should I be mad? It’s our own fault, we know that.”
A typically calm Freiburg coach Christian Streich barely cracked a smile after his team won away to Bayern for the first time in club history.
“We defended passionately and we defended well,” he said. “It’s a nice evening, but you don’t need to overstate it either.”
Bayern will at least have the opportunity for immediate revenge when they head to Freiburg in the league on Saturday.
Earlier on Tuesday, a quick-fire double from France striker Randal Kolo Muani sent Eintracht Frankfurt through to the semi-finals with a 2-0 home win over Union Berlin.
Kolo Muani scored two goals in two minutes early in the first half, both assisted by Mario Goetze, and Frankfurt held on despite a late Union assault. The win kept the Europa League holders on track for what would be a sixth German Cup win, and a first since 2018.
Elsewhere, Romelu Lukaku netted a last-gasp leveller in Inter Milan’s dramatic 1-1 draw at Juventus on Tuesday which left their Italian Cup semi-final all square after the first leg.
Belgium striker Lukaku rolled in from the penalty spot deep in stoppage time to keep both teams level ahead of the second leg in Milan later this month, before then being sent off following his celebrations in front of the home fans.
Juan Cuadrado thought he had given Juventus a lead to take to the San Siro in the 83rd minute of an intense match between bitter rivals in Turin which featured few goalscoring chances and ended with both teams at each other’s throats.
Cuadrado and Inter goalkeeper Samir Handanovic were both sent off following the final whistle after a scuffle which continued as the teams went into the tunnel at the Allianz Stadium.
Lukaku’s spot-kick is good news for Inter coach Simone Inzaghi who is under pressure after a poor run of results which has led to them dropping to fourth in Serie A.
Angel Di Maria was unlucky not to put Juve ahead just after kick-off with a low drive which was brilliantly tipped away by Mattia Perin.
Inter grew into the game and were probably the better team after the break, with Henrikh Mkhitaryan dragging a great chance a whisker wide in the 64th minute after a spell of pressure from the away side.
Juve should however have taken the lead in the 77th minute when Arkadiusz Milik somehow failed to poke home Cuadrado’s mishit shot with the goal at his mercy.
Cuadrado then found what he thought was the decisive goal when he collected Adrien Rabiot’s diverted cross and finished well past Handanovic before doing a victory jig on the sidelines.
But then Gleison Bremer gift-wrapped a chance for Lukaku to score his sixth goal of a troubled season at Inter with a silly handball, after which all hell broke loose.
On Wednesday struggling Cremonese try to secure what would be a shock cup final spot when they host in-form Fiorentina.
