Stuttgart beats Leipzig 3-1 to reach German Cup final as Low loses on debut

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STUTTGART, Germany (AP) — Zsolt Low lost his first game as Leipzig coach as Stuttgart held on for a 3-1 win in the semifinals of the German Cup on Wednesday.

Leipzig dominated in Low’s debut — he replaced Marco Rose on Sunday — but Stuttgart scored when it mattered and goalkeeper Alexander Nübel had a standout game to help send the team to its first cup final in 12 years.

Angelo Stiller gave Stuttgart the lead in the sixth minute with a volley from outside the penalty area. Nick Woltemade made it 2-0 when he finished off a passing move in the 57th but Leipzig hit back almost immediately with a goal for Benjamin Sesko.

Jamie Leweling bundled the ball over the line at a corner to seal it in the 73rd.

Nübel earlier kept Stuttgart in the lead with save after save, keeping out three shots by Loïs Openda in the first half alone and leaping to catch a Xavi Simons shot that took a deceptive deflection.

Jürgen Klopp, who oversees Leipzig in his role as head of Red Bull’s global soccer, was in attendance to see Leipzig’s first game under Low, a former assistant to Thomas Tuchel at Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Bayern Munich.

Low picked a young team, including a first start for 19-year-old defender Kosta Nedeljkovic — on loan from Aston Villa — but had to watch his new team miss out on what would have been its fourth cup final in five years. Leipzig next plays Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga on Saturday.

Leipzig and Stuttgart were both aiming to end lackluster seasons on a high. Both failed to reach the knockout stages of the Champions League and both are on track to miss out on that competition next season. Leipzig is sixth in the Bundesliga and Stuttgart is 11th.

Stuttgart will play third-division Arminia Bielefeld in the final in Berlin next month following Bielefeld’s upset of last season’s cup winner Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday.

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