RB Leipzig narrowly edged Werder Bremen to book their place in the DFB Cup final on Friday night, with Emil Forsberg clinching a dramatic 2-1 victory for his side in stoppage time of extra-time.

Werder 1-2 Leipzig
Goals: 0-1 Hwang (93’), 1-1 Bittencourt (105'+1), 1-2 Forsberg (120'+1)

In search of a second DFB Cup final appearance in their history, Leipzig flew out of the traps and took just four minutes to force Werder goalkeeper Jiri Pavlenka into action. Angelino’s cross with the outside of his foot picked out Alexander Sörloth, whose header looked destined for the back of the net until Pavlenka intervened low to his right. Half an hour in, Josh Sargent should’ve put Bremen ahead. But - having superbly held off the challenge of Dayot Upamecano - the American striker could only shin wide when one-on-one with Peter Gulasci. The hosts then thought they had a penalty on the stroke of half time, only for the referee to overturn his own decision after checking the pitch-side monitors as the two sides went into the break goalless.

Leipzig’s waves of attack after the break were continually met by stubborn Werder resistance, and if it wasn’t the Bremen defence denying Leipzig, it was the woodwork - Willi Orban and Christopher Nkunku denied by crossbar and post, respectively. Both sides pushed for a late winner but neither could find their range, sending the game into 30 minutes of extra-time. Leipzig needed just three of those to finally break the deadlock as late sub Hee-chan Hwang pounced to put his team in front. But Bremen weren’t done, with Leonardo Bittencourt pulling them level with an excellent finish after a mistake from Upamecano. The game looked destined for penalties, until Forsberg popped up in the dying embers of extra-time to volley home Hwang’s cushioned header.

Match stats

• Bittencourt’s goal was his fifth of the campaign, but first in the cup in his second appearance.
• Bremen and Leipzig both conceded for the first time in this season’s competition.
  Hwang is yet to score a Bundesliga goal for Leipzig, but has scored three times in four DFB Cup appearances this season.
• Leipzig have now reached the German cup final for only the second time in their history; they previously finished as runners-up after losing to Bayern Munich in the 2018/19 final.
• Julian Nagelsmann's side have won eight of their 10 meetings with Bremen, including each of the last five - albeit this was secured in extra-time.
• The soon-to-be Bayern coach’s personal record against Bremen now stretches to five wins from five and reads overall as: P8, W5, D2, L1.

Line-ups

Bremen: Pavlenka - Veljkovic, Groß (Bargfrede 119’), Moisander (c) - Gebre Selassie, Eggestein, Mbom (Bittencourt 73’), Augustinsson - Sargent, Selke (Möhwald 96’) - Füllkrug (Osako 66’)
Unused subs: Zetterer, Schmid, Erras, Rieckmann, Dinkci
Out: Friedl (knock), Plogmann (knee), Toprak (calf), Woltemade (knee)
Coach: Florian Kohfeldt

Leipzig: Gulacsi - Orban, Konate, Upamecano - Mukiele, Sabitzer (c) (Poulsen 74’), Kampl, Angelino (Henrichs 103’) - Olmo, Haidara (Nkunku 46’) (Forsberg 114’) - Sörloth (Hwang 90’)
Unused subs: Martinez, Adams, Klostermann, Laimer
Out: Szoboszlai (groin)
Coach: Julian Nagelsmann

As it happened!

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