Extra-time winner sends Stuttgart into Pokal final
Tiago Tomas was Stuttgart's hero in extra-time as his 119th-minute winner helped Sebastian Hoeness' side reach back-to-back DFB-Pokal finals after a 2-1 win over Freiburg.
Tomas came off the bench to flick home the decisive goal, teeing up a meeting with 20-time winner Bayern Munich in the showpiece match on 24 May (AEST).
Freiburg started brightly as Maximilian Eggestein forced Alexander Nubel into a smart stop in the 17th minute, but the midfielder was not to be denied the game's opening goal.
After Angelo Stiller's wayward backpass gifted Freiburg a corner, the visitors made it pay from the set-piece, with Vincenzo Grifo's teasing delivery met by the head of Matthias Ginter before Eggestein stuck out a foot to help the ball home.
Jamie Leweling fired wide and Deniz Undav saw his goal-bound shot blocked by Igor Matanovic, with Stuttgart's pressure continuing into the second half, only for Stiller to see his prodded attempt saved on the line by Florian Muller.
Stiller thought he had levelled when his 60th-minute strike nestled into the bottom-right corner, but the goal was ruled out for an offside against Ermedin Demirovic in the build-up.
However, Stuttgart was not to be denied 10 minutes later as it finally drew level through Undav, who placed a side-footed shot past Muller after being slipped into the box by substitute Bilal El Khannouss.
Undav almost won the tie with the last kick of normal time but fired straight at Muller from close range, and Stuttgart came close twice in the first half of extra-time, only to see Chris Fuhrich hit the post and El Khannouss thwarted by the Freiburg goalkeeper.
But with penalties looming, Stuttgart snatched it at the death when Tomas instinctively guided Badredine Bouanani's cross with a sublime backheel to seal their progression.
Stuttgart head coach Sebastian Hoeness hailed the team's fight after the game.
"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."
Although Freiburg head coach Julian Schuster was disappointed with his side's DFB-Pokal exit so close to the final, he chose to see the positives from the 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."
