While the 34,100 supporters at the Europa-Park Stadion on Saturday afternoon did not see a victory for the home side, they were treated to six goals, a breathless end to the game, a late equaliser and a rousing performance from Freiburg.

“I don’t think anyone in the stadium will have regretted being here today. It wouldn’t be right to be overly critical,” said Julian Schuster after the match. “The way we managed to build from the back and push forward was brilliant, especially for the second goal. It was important to keep hitting back and maintain a high intensity. Our performance today gives us a lot of confidence for the tasks ahead.”

Two personnel changes apiece

Niklas Beste and Johan Manzambi both came back into the starting eleven after returning from suspension. They replaced Patrick Osterhage and Lucas Höler.

Leverkusen head coach Kasper Hjulmand made two alterations to his side from their rearranged visit to Hamburger SV in midweek. Ezequiel Fernández and Ernest Poku replaced Montrell Culbreath and Exequiel Palacios, both of whom began on the bench.

A strong start

SC began by boldly pressing high in the glorious March weather. The visitors, though, had the game’s first good opportunity in the fifth minute. Beste lost the ball on the edge of his own penalty area and Martin Terrier arrived on the scene, but his low shot from around 15 yards out went narrowly wide.

Shortly afterwards, the hosts came even closer to a goal at the other end. Igor Matanovic and Manzambi advanced forward on the left and played in Yuito Suzuki, whose cross from the byline fell to Beste. The Freiburg man fired inches wide under significant pressure from the Leverkusen defenders.

Just before the 15-minute mark, SCF continued their strong start when Beste beat Grimaldo on the edge of the area and showed great vision to find Grifo in the six-yard box. Andrich managed to stick out a leg to prevent the ball from being turned home from close range.

SC continued to pile on the pressure as they were roared on by the fans at the Europa-Park Stadion, who applauded every attack. Freiburg played good football to get into the final third and created a number of opportunities in the first half hour.

Three goals in quick succession

The hosts were rewarded for their efforts in the 34th minute. From deep inside their own half, SCF played their way to the edge of the box. Günter fired an intelligent ball into the middle, and Grifo beat Leverkusen ‘keeper Blaswich with a looping strike to draw level with Nils Petersen on a record 105 goals in competitive matches for SC.

However, the celebrations for his landmark goal had barely died down by the time the visitors equalised. Christian Kofane had a lot of space to try his luck from a central position around 17 yards from goal, and he struck a well-placed effort past Atubolu and into the bottom corner (37’).

There were only three minutes between the opener and the equaliser, and just six more had passed before Freiburg retook the lead. Beste released Philipp Treu in space down the right. Igor Matanovic cleverly left Treu’s low cross for Suzuki, who swept in a composed finish (43’). The Japan international almost had a second before the break, but Blaswich got his fingertips to the summer arrival’s shot from distance.

After the hosts had nearly made it 3-1, Leverkusen equalised for a second time just a few minutes later. Set-piece specialist Alejandro Grimaldo hammered a free kick from just outside the box over the wall and into the net to make it 2-2 at half time (45+3’).

Early blow after the interval

After half time, it was only seven minutes before another goal came. Instead of SC striking again, however, the visitors took the lead for the first time in the match. Martin Terrier calmly finished off a clinical counterattack with a shot from the left of the area (52’).

SCF showed no sign of being shellshocked after conceding a third, though they could not find an immediate response against the visitors, who were now sitting deeper. Manzambi struck narrowly wide of Blaswich’s goal after an excellent solo run (62’).

Overall, the number of goalscoring chances decreased as the game went on. Julian Schuster’s side regularly managed to get to the edge of the Leverkusen box, but they were repeatedly foiled by the visitors’ compact defensive line.

Ginter earns a point

Freiburg, who battled tirelessly, did find the space they needed just before the end of the 90. Scherhant came forward on the left wing and crossed into the centre, where Matthias Ginter arrived to head home the equaliser and spark pandemonium around the stadium (86’).

The centre-back appeared to have put his side in front again during a feverish last few minutes. Blaswich could only parry Eggestein’s half volley and Ginter slid in to turn home the follow-up, but the flag went up for a narrow offside (90’). It remained 3-3, and the team justifiably received a great reception from the home fans after the final whistle.

SC will be in action again on Thursday when they travel to KRC Genk in the first leg of their Europa League last-16 tie (21:00 CET).

Photo: SC Freiburg