In bright sunshine, the 34,500 spectators at the Europa-Park Stadion watched Matthias Ginter being honoured before kickoff for his 400th Bundesliga appearance. Among active Bundesliga players, only Manuel Neuer and Oliver Baumann have made more appearances. Shortly after kickoff, Ginter’s vast experience was on full display: following a long clearance from Werder goalkeeper Mio Backhaus, opponent Keke Topp focused solely on the ball, while Ginter slipped past him unnoticed and comfortably reached it first.

Werder Bremen had a new man on the touchline on Saturday. Daniel Thioune had replaced former head coach Horst Steffen during the week. “If you go ten games in a row without a win, you lose that sense of ease,” said Thioune, who has previously coached Hamburger SV and Fortuna Düsseldorf, among others. “It’s about energy and conviction, but also about being well prepared.” Tactically, he initially stuck with the 3-5-2 system favoured by Steffen.

The first chance of the match fell to the visitors. A cross from Romano Schmid on the left fell to Justin Njinmah via a deflection, who attempted an overhead kick that forced Noah Atubolu into a superb save (13’). Freiburg, by contrast, took their first opportunity ruthlessly. Immediately after Njinmah’s chance, Igor Matanovic spotted Niklas Beste completely unmarked on the right. The Freiburg attacker drove into the penalty area and curled an unstoppable shot from the right-hand side into the top corner to make it 1-0 (13’). It was the 27-year-old’s first competitive goal in a Freiburg shirt.

Backhaus prevents a second Freiburg goal

“It was a balanced game in the first half,” said Julian Schuster after the final whistle. “Bremen are a side that consistently create chances when they have possession.”

Freiburg made four changes from the 1-0 defeat at VfB Stuttgart. Christian Günter, Bruno Ogbus, Patrick Osterhage and Vincenzo Grifo came in for Jordy Makengo, Philipp Treu, Yuito Suzuki and Derry Scherhant. Treu was not even on the bench on Saturday for workload management reasons.

Freiburg’s lead was fully deserved, as they took full control of the game in the first half and created the better chances. Some SC fans were already celebrating as Matanovic headed goalwards, but Backhaus was there to claw his effort off the line (17’). Günter nearly capitalised on a defensive mix-up seven minutes later, but once again Backhaus was alert and narrowed the angle against the Freiburg captain. That proved to be the final noteworthy chance of the first half.

Manzambi sent off

Both teams returned from the dressing room unchanged, however Freiburg’s coaching staff had to reshuffle just minutes after the restart. Following a challenge between Johan Manzambi and Olivier Deman, referee Deniz Aytekin showed Manzambi a yellow card. After a recommendation from video assistant referee Katrin Rafalski and a review of the footage, Aytekin changed his decision and sent Manzambi off (52’). Freiburg now had to play 40 minutes with a man down.

Bremen took control after that and often spent long periods of time in and around the Freiburg penalty area. There were still chances at both ends, though. Maximilian Eggestein narrowly missed after a Beste free kick (58’), while Samuel Mbangula went close after a Jens Stage cross down the other end (67’). Atubolu was forced to clear a miscued Senne Lynen cross off the line (71’), before having to make another good save to deny an Njinmah effort from range (80’). Shortly before that, Suzuki found the back of the net, but had it ruled out due to an alleged foul in the build-up (77’).

SC survive eight minutes of stoppage time

“Even after the red card, we still had occasional moments on the counterattack. Compliments to the lads for how they defended it, especially with such a long amount of stoppage time,” Schuster summed up at the post-match press conference.

In the closing stages, substitutes Jordy Makengo and Anthony Jung, among others, helped see out the narrow lead. The SC fans and players could finally celebrate after 98 minutes and 30 seconds of playing time. With these three points added, Freiburg remain in seventh place. Schuster’s side are back in action on Tuesday (20:45 CET) in the DFB-Pokal quarter-final away at Hertha BSC.

Photo: SC Freiburg