Stuttgart advance to German Cup final at the expense of Freiburg

Defending champions Stuttgart reached the final of the German Cup, after a thrilling two-goal win over Freiburg after extra-time, on Thursday evening, at the MHB Arena, in the semi-finals.

With this result, Stuttgart set up a date in the final with Bayern Munich, who qualified for the same round at the expense of Bayer Leverkusen by winning the hat-trick on Wednesday, May 23 at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin.

Freiburg opened the scoring in the 28th minute, when Italian Vincenzo Griffo crossed from a corner, which Matthias Günter met with his head before Maximilian Egestein extended his foot to complete the ball into the net.

Angelo Stiller thought he had equalised for Stuttgart in the 60th minute after his shot settled into the bottom right corner, but the goal was ruled out due to offside on Ermidin Demirovic at the start of the attack.

But the hosts came back 10 minutes later to equalize through Deniz Ondav, who fired a ball past Freiburg goalkeeper Florian Müller after receiving a pass inside the area from Moroccan substitute Bilal Khannous.

With the equaliser still in extra time and the penalty shootout approaching, Stuttgart snatched the win in the 119th minute with a stunning goal, when Thiago Thomas turned Algeria's Badreddine Bouanani's cross into the net.

Villarreal squanders chance to move away from third place in LaLiga

Villarreal squandered the chance to move away from third place and extend the points gap on its pursuers Atletico Madrid, after drawing against its host Real Oviedo with a goal to match, on Thursday evening, in the 33rd round of La Liga.

With this result, the "Yellow Submarines" team was content to collect one point, which raised its score to 62 points in third place, a difference of 5 points against Atletico Madrid in fourth, while Real Oviedo raised its score to 28 points in the 20th and last place.

The first half ended with the hosts leading by a goal without reply, as the referee awarded a penalty to Villarreal in the 12th minute after Ivorian Nicolas Pepe was fouled by Daniel Calvo, which was executed by Daniel Parejo but was saved by the goalkeeper.

The referee decided to re-enter the penalty again due to the goalkeeper's advancement from the goal line, this time by Nicolas Pepe, who succeeded in translating it into a goal in the 14th minute of the match.

The visiting team waited until the 69th minute to realize the result of the equalizer through Moroccan Elias Shaira, with a left-footed shot from the right side of the box to the middle of the goal, to return the match to the starting point.

The crossbar saved Villarreal's sure goal in the 82nd minute when Iyozi Perez fired a powerful header from the middle of the box after a cross from Sergi Cardona, and the ball fell on the goal line before it was deflected by the Real Oviedo defence.

In other matches, Rayo Vallecano advanced to the warm zone after a hard-fought win over Espanyol with a goal without reply, scored by striker Sergio Camilo in the 87th minute, while Quique Garcia missed a penalty in the 74th minute for Espanyol.

Levante ignited the relegation struggle after beating Sevilla with two goals without reply, scored by Ivan Romero in the 38th and 90+3rd minutes.

Levante raised its score to 32 points in 19th and penultimate place, while Sevilla's balance was frozen at 34 points in 17th place.