Kristiansen struck in the 109th minute with a long-range effort at Berlin's Olympic Stadium which made his side German Cup winners for the fourth time and denied Bundesliga champions Stuttgart their first domestic double.

"I was delighted with the goal," said Kristiansen, who has won nine caps for his country, "I knew I had hit it well, but it was a great feeling when it went in.

"The boys are over the moon, it has been a fantastic and superb night, there will be quite a party."

Stuttgart goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand, playing his last game before leaving to join Spanish giants Valencia this summer, said his side went down with a fight.

"We threw everything in and fought hard with ten men," he said, "the referee did not have his best day, but I am proud of the boys, they gave everything and worked hard just like they have done all season."

Having beaten Stuttgart home and away in the league, this was Nuremberg's third win of the season over their rivals - their first German Cup win since 1962 - but the Hans Meyer-coached side had to come from behind.

Stuttgart's prolific striker Cacau put his side ahead when he ran onto a chip ahead from midfielder Sami Khedira which stretched the Nuremberg defence and the Brazilian stabbed the ball home past goalkeeper Raphael Schaefer after 20 minutes.

It was Cacau's 18th goal of the season - his fifth in the cup - but he was not to remain on the pitch for long.

Nuremberg hit back quickly when Slovakian midfielder Marek Mintal blasted home his shot after 27 minutes from a superb cross by defender Dominik Reinhardt which beat Stuttgart's Hildebrand.

It was a fantastic effort which began in the Nuremberg goal-mouth and swept the full length of the field.

But the game then developed an ill-tempered edge - there were nine cards shown in all - as both early goalscorers left the field within minutes of each other, but for very different reasons.

First Cacau was sent off for lashing out at Nuremberg defender Andreas Wolf and he was shown a straight red card by the referee.

Then Portuguese defender Fernando Meira earned himself a yellow card for a terrible tackle on Mintel which floored the Slovakian, who had to be stretchered off in some distress on 32 minutes.

The first-half finished 1-1, but Nuremberg took the lead just two minutes after the break when Spanish defender Horacio Pinola drilled in his corner and German international midfielder Marco Engelhardt headed home.

But with ten minutes to go Schaefer brought down Gomez in the penalty area, referee Michael Weiner wasted no time awarding the penalty and Mexican midfielder Pavel Pardo drove home his shot to make it 2-2.

The game went into extra-time and it was Kristiansen's inch-perfect shot from 30 metres which gave Hildebrand no chance and sealed Nuremberg's win.