“We really need the fans to give us maximum support,” were Christian Sreich’s words to the Freiburg faithful ahead of the meeting with Bochum – and they certainly delivered at the Europa-Park Stadion on Saturday afternoon. A magnificent tifo across both the south and east stand set the tone ahead of kick-off, and the spectators didn’t let up during the game, constantly singing loudly and roaring the players on. “We put in a fantastic performance, but the crowd today really gave us a boost. The south stand was shaking and didn’t stop all game. This was a real football temple today,” said a delighted Streich after full time.

The head coach made two changes to his side that narrowly won in Frankfurt last week, both in attack: Nils Petersen and Wooyeong Jeong got the nod ahead of Lucas Höler and Ermedin Demirovic. Petersen was straight into the action too, creating the first chance of the game for Maximilian Eggestein in the third minute, although his shot was blocked. The away side couldn’t get anything in the way of Lukas Kübler’s strike soon after, however. Philipp Lienhart’s perfectly weighted long ball over the right was brilliantly controlled and then volleyed into the top corner to open the scoring in style (5’).

Freiburg dominant

It was a strong start from SCF, with the fans giving them a boost as they attacked Bochum with their high press. It took until the tenth minute for the away side to find a bit of space going forward, albeit with a cross from the left that Sebastian Polter couldn’t head on target. Freiburg were managing to get into more dangerous positions, demonstrated by the 2-0 scoreline after 16 minutes; Roland Sallai perfectly picked out the corner like Kübler before him, although his low shot had a little help off the inside of the post too. The dominance continued and there could have been a third in the 25th minute, but Petersen’s header from a corner dropped the wrong side of the upright. Another ten minutes later, another headed effort this time from Sallai, but again it was inches wide.

It was a beautiful day in Breisgau and the football in the Europa-Park Stadion was matching the weather. It could easily have been a three or four-goal lead at the break with Jeong the next to come close to adding his name to the scoresheet, but his strike from a good 20 yards zipped marginally past the post (44‘).

Sallai at the double

Bochum coach Thomas Reis must’ve had some choice words for his team at half time, as when his side came out for the second half, they made it much more difficult for Freiburg to play, at least for a few minutes. In the 53rd minute, however, SC deservedly made it 3-0, with Sallai getting his second in the process. The Hungarian got on the end of Jeong’s cross, and his header was guided into the Bochum goal. Just as Streich wanted, the Südtribüne was rocking, and the fans were almost sucking the ball into the goal. Freiburg nearly made it four, when Nico Schlotterbeck slid in to meet Sallai’s cross in the six yard box, but VfL keeper Manuel Riemann kept it out.

Bochum’s Konstantinos Stafylidis was sent off by referee Sascha Stegemann in the 68th minute after a rash challenge on Sallai on the half way line. The visitors, who were down to ten men on the pitch, were soon without their head coach on the touchline, as he was given a red card just minute later. “We were inferior in all areas. You cannot perform like that against a team like SC Freiburg,” said Reis after the game. Streich, however, was much more upbeat in his assessment of the match: “We played much better football today than we did against Frankfurt. We were switched on in the crucial moments and we were strong in the duels,” said the Freiburg coach.

As you would expect, SC were the only side who wanted to play in the final moments, with Bochum sitting deep and clearing their lines with long balls. In the 85th minute, substitute Lucas Höler missed the chance to make it 4-0 and just four minutes later, referee Stegemann blew his whistle for full time. It was the perfect start to the busy week, which continues with the small matter of a DFB-Pokal semi-final against Hamburger SV on Tuesday evening.

SC Freiburg 

Photo: SC Freiburg