Ten-man SC Paderborn 07 hold out until the 90th minute before VfB Stuttgart score to win 1-0 in the DFB-Pokal

SC Paderborn 07 came within seconds of forcing extra time against ten men down to nine on the field for over an hour, before Deniz Undav settled a tense DFB-Pokal second-round tie in the 90th minute. VfB Stuttgart's 1-0 win sends them into the round of 16, but it was a far tighter night than the scoreline over 90 minutes suggests, given Paderborn played more than half the match a man short.

A red card changes the shape of the game

Jamie Leweling was booked for Stuttgart in the 33rd minute, but the game turned four minutes later when Paderborn's Laurin Curda was sent off. From the 37th minute onward, the hosts had to see out more than 50 minutes of regular time, plus stoppage, with ten men against a Stuttgart side that had already needed just over a week earlier to beat them comfortably in the league.

Jeff Chabot picked up a yellow card for Stuttgart four minutes after the red, and Paderborn's Raphael Obermair, introduced from the bench, was booked in the 85th minute as the hosts dug in. For long spells it looked like backing one opponent for 53 minutes would be enough to force extra time — Paderborn held firm through the second half and deep into stoppage time.

Undav breaks the deadlock at the death

It finally gave way in the 90th minute. Deniz Undav, Stuttgart's starting number nine, scored the only goal of the game to spare his side a nervy period of extra time against a team they had already beaten twice this season. There was no time for Paderborn to respond: the goal arrived as the 90 minutes were running out, and Stuttgart saw out what remained to close the tie 1-0.

Match facts

• 90' — Deniz Undav (VfB Stuttgart)

• 33' — Jamie Leweling (VfB Stuttgart), yellow card
• 37' — Laurin Curda (SC Paderborn 07), red card
• 41' — Jeff Chabot (VfB Stuttgart), yellow card
• 85' — Raphael Obermair (SC Paderborn 07), yellow card

Line-ups

• SC Paderborn 07 (3-4-2-1): Markus Schubert; Felix Götze, Jonah Sticker, Jano Horst; Tom Baack, Santiago Castaneda, Clemens Lippmann, Ruben Müller; Marvin Pieringer, Deniz Zeitler; Laurin Curda. Substitutes used: Stefano Marino, Raphael Obermair, Mattes Hansen, Steffen Tigges, Tjark Scheller.
• VfB Stuttgart (4-2-3-1): Fabian Bredlow; Jeff Chabot, Ramon Hendriks, Maximilian Mittelstädt, Lorenz Assignon; Deniz Undav, Angelo Stiller, Grischa Prömel; Ermedin Demirovic, Jamie Leweling, Bilal El Khannouss. Substitutes used: Atakan Karazor, Chris Führich, Luca Jaquez, Dzenan Pejcinovic.

The shots-on-target column is the one number that cuts against the man advantage: Paderborn matched Stuttgart at five apiece despite playing more than an hour with ten men, even while conceding almost two-thirds of the ball and completing far fewer passes. It is a measure of how stubbornly Paderborn defended rather than how little Stuttgart created.

The same two sides, eighteen days apart

This was the second meeting between the pair inside three weeks. On 10 October, Stuttgart had already won 2-0 at Paderborn in the Bundesliga, Jeff Chabot and Chris Führich both scoring from Angelo Stiller assists. Chabot started again in this rematch, and the result followed the same pattern: a single-goal Stuttgart win on the road, even if this one needed extra help from a red card and ran to the very last minute.

Stuttgart's stop-start league form

Stuttgart arrived at the Home Deluxe Arena in the middle of an uneven Bundesliga season: 15th with six points from seven games, two wins and five defeats, and a goal difference of -3. Their last five league results read W-W-L-D-L, including a 1-1 draw with Atlético Madrid in the Champions League sandwiched between Bundesliga games — form that makes a cup win valuable, even an unconvincing one played mostly against ten men.

What's next

VfB Stuttgart advance to the DFB-Pokal round of 16, scheduled for 1-2 December, with the draw for that round still to be made. SC Paderborn 07's cup run ends here, and Laurin Curda's red card means the Bundesliga newcomers will have a suspension to manage before their focus turns fully back to their fight to stay in the top flight.