Freiburg's penalty hero Uphoff uses a rare chance

In the Bundesliga, Benjamin Uphoff has not yet played a single game for SC Freiburg.

But in the DFB Cup, the other substitute goalkeeper is there and spares the southern Baden team in Osnabrück a disgrace.

Osnabrück / Freiburg - Christian Streich knew exactly who to thank after the hard-fought victory in the DFB Cup. And it was clear to him that it was a more than special evening for his goalkeeper Benjamin Uphoff. "I'm really happy for Benni because he always trains so brutally," said the SC Freiburg coach on Tuesday evening. "He has a bad chance of playing more here and then he saves three penalties."

Without these brilliant deeds by Retter Uphoff, the Bundesliga third would have embarrassed himself in the second round game at the third division soccer club VfL Osnabrück. As it was, Freiburg, who were still unbeaten this season, made it into the round of 16 with a 3-2 on penalties after they had been 2-2 (1-1, 1-0) after 120 minutes. "It's an indescribable feeling," said Uphoff on ARD after he had become a Freiburg hero shortly before midnight.

Streich had decided to spare regular goalkeeper Mark Flekken and instead bring the 28-year-old, who has not played a single Bundesliga game for the sports club since moving to Freiburg in 2020 - and always behaves professionally despite his reserve role.

His strong performance was "a great pleasure because he is an incredibly important component in our squad," said Streich.

"He's always one of the last ones to go home because he always does a great job of preparing and reworking trainings."

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Uphoff has not had an easy time in Freiburg so far. When he came to Breisgau from the second division club Karlsruher SC last year, Flekken was seriously injured shortly before the start of the season and was out for a long time. But instead of betting on Uphoff, his new employer loaned Florian Müller from FSV Mainz 05, who played well and is now under contract with VfB Stuttgart.

In Osnabrück, however, Uphoff was there - and praised his team-mates for taking "two blows in the neck" and still winning despite a mixed performance. First of all, VfL equalized the guest lead by Vincenzo Grifo (33rd) in the seventh minute of stoppage time by Lukas Gugganig - and even scored 2: 1 (108th) in extra time through Sebastian Klaas. Only a header from Keven Schlotterbeck (120th) brought Freiburg to penalties at the last minute.

“We didn't give up, and in the end that's the merit of the entire team,” said Uphoff modestly.

In the Bundesliga home game against SpVgg Greuther Fürth, the 1.91-meter-tall goalkeeper will move back into the second member behind Flekken on Saturday (3.30 p.m. / Sky) - and is probably hoping to play in the second round of the cup in mid-January.

dpa