Football: Bayern Munich eliminated in the quarter-finals of the Cup by Freiburg, the hoped-for treble flies away

Europe 1 with AFP 23:43 p.m., April 04, 2023, modified at 23:46 p.m., April 04, 2023

Thomas Tuchel's Bayern Munich were eliminated 2-1 in the quarterfinals of the German Cup by Freiburg, fourth in the Bundesliga, on Tuesday at the Allianz Arena. For the third season in a row, Bayern, winners of the event 20 times, did not reach the semi-finals of the German Cup, after two eliminations in the 2nd round in autumn 2020 and autumn 2021.

On Tuesday night, in an Allianz Arena once again plunged into winter temperatures and a thermometer well below zero degrees, the Munich residents thought they had done the hardest by finding the fault in the Fribourg wall by Dayot Upamecano, higher than Maximilian Eggestein in the 20th minute of play. But on a poorly negotiated restart by the Munich defensive block, Lucas Höler managed the perfect sequence, controlling and then striking from the left unstoppable for Bayern goalkeeper Yann Sommer.

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End of hat-trick dreams

In added time, on a shot by Lucas Höler, Jamal Musiala pushed away with his hand and the referee logically designated the penalty spot. Höler took responsibility to qualify his team for the semi-finals. Until this last opportunity, the Munich side laid siege to Freiburg's goal, without managing to take the lead. Benjamin Pavard, on a free kick taken by Kimmich found the crossbar in the 62nd minute.

Arrived on the Munich bench only ten days ago, Thomas Tuchel had a promising start by winning 4-2 against Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga to regain the leader's chair, but sees his hat-trick hopes fly away prematurely against a Freiburg team well grouped in front of the goal of its goalkeeper Mark Flekken. The former coach of Dortmund, Paris SG and Chelsea had, however, shown a measured enthusiasm, highlighting the limits in the game of his team, fault of too many losses of ball for his taste.

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Reunion in the league

Munich and Fribourg will meet again on Saturday afternoon, this time in Freiburg for the 27th Bundesliga matchday, while Bayern is only two points ahead of Borussia Dortmund. After this league match, Munich will travel to Manchester City for the quarter-final first leg of the Champions League. Bayern is still far from being out of its crisis, created by the Munich leaders themselves, who decided to part ways with their coach Julian Nagelsmann on March 24, to everyone's surprise.

In the early evening, Eintracht Frankfurt got the better of Union Berlin, 3rd in the Bundesliga, 2-0, thanks to an express double from Randal Kolo Muani. In the space of 103 seconds, the France international scored his fourth and fifth goals in the Cup, each time served by Mario Götze, for the 18th and 19th goals in all competitions, to which must be added twelve assists, all in 37 matches played.

The quarter-finals end on Wednesday with second-division Nuremberg facing Bundesliga side Stuttgart and new coach Sebastian Hoeness, while Dortmund will try to immediately put the march back against RB Leipzig (20:45). The semi-finals, whose draw is scheduled for late Sunday afternoon, will be played on May 2 and 3, while the final is scheduled in Berlin on Saturday, June 3.