“Things can often get uncomfortable away to Heidenheim”, predicted Julian Schuster ahead of the fixture against the side sitting 16th in the standings coming into proceedings, with a nod to the opposition’s style of play, as well as match conditions. Temperatures just above zero, light rain, and a combative home side from the off served to prove the 40-year-old coach right in his assessment. However, no one could have guessed beforehand quite how much of a role the condition of the pitch would have played in the defeat at the end of the day.

Freiburg’s coaching staff made four changes to their starting line-up following progression to the DFB-Pokal quarter-final in midweek. Noah Atubolu began between the posts, replacing Florian Müller, who justified the faith placed in him through a strong performance against Darmstadt. Patrick Osterhage and Philipp Treu came in for Yuito Suzuki and Christian Günter, while Philipp Lienhart returned to the starting cohort in central defence in place of Maximilian Rosenfelder.

Frank Schmidt opted for a solitary change to his team that began a vital win over Union Berlin, with Jan Schöppner preferred over Adrian Beck.

Chance after chance for Heidenheim

Philipp Lienhart, who was making his 200th Bundesliga appearance for SC, along with the rest of the visiting back line, was tested by quick play in behind over the course of the opening stages. FCH had registered two promising shots before even the ten-minute mark inside the Voith-Arena, both zipping just wide of Atubolu’s goal (2’, 10’). A number of supporters in the stands had been ready to celebrate when Mathias Honsak surged towards goal halfway through the opening period, only for him for drag his shot wide of the far post from a half-right position (20’).

Down the other end, SC were finding open-play chances hard to come by, with Matthias Ginter recording his team’s first chance after 14 minutes through the use of a backheel. Myriad set-pieces had also caused the hosts little concern. Lukas Kübler was subsequently required to deny Honsak at the last second after the forward had broken through on goal (31’).

Manzambi puts Freibirg ahead

That proved to be Heidenheim’s last chance of note before half-time. SC had managed by this point to cope better with the visitors’ play and keep the ball in the opposing half. When Treu surged down the left flank after 40 minutes and cut back for Johan Manzambi on the edge of the box, the Switzerland international slotted into the left-hand corner, via the aid of a slight deflection. That saw the visitors head into the break with a narrow lead.  

Both head coaches reacted at the break. While Schuster made a like-for-like switch, bringing on Rosenfelder for Lienhart, Schmidt changed to a back four with a double subsitution.

Lapses lose the day

In light of the tactical alterations, Freiburg started the second half better than the team in 16th. Shortly after the restart, Grifo had a strike blocked from a promising position (47’), and a few moments later Niklas Beste missed the chance to make it 2-0 against his former teammates with a shot on the turn from ten yards (54’).

While Freiburg seemingly had a grasp on proceedings during this period, suddenly the score read 1-1. A corner was played short by the hosts before the subsequent cross was delivered into the six-yard box. Kübler slipped on the slippery surface in the centre and Patrick Mainka pounced to comfortably equalise from a few yards out (59’).

Rosenfelder had only entered the fray at half time, but his afternoon was cut short just ten minutes later. The 22-year-old clutched his thigh following a sprint and needed to be replaced by Anthony Jung following examination by the medical staff.

The final quarter of an hour in what had become an end-to-end contest began with a curling effort from Yuito Suzuki, which flashed wide of Diant Ramaj’s net from 18 yards out. Eggestein then fired off a strike from a tight angle, which did not miss by much at all (79’).

The hosts also remained dangerous until the very last and made their pressure tell. While Atubolu was able to parry a header from Stefan Schimmer away effectively, he, along with Kübler, was rounded by the striker and had to watch as Heidenheim’s front man slotted home from a narrow angle to win the day.

“It is tough to take at this moment in time and we are really disappointed. We allowed the opposition to score far too easily,” reported Schuster on the defeat, frustrated. “That is really annoying but it is important for us to learn from this. The team has demonstrated that we can turn situations like these into something positive.”

The chance for SC to respond to the bitter setback arrives as early as Thursday at 21:00 CEST, when FC Red Bull Salzburg travel to the Europa-Park Stadion for a Europa-League matchday six clash.

Photo: Achim Keller