There were mixed feelings for SC Freiburg after the final whistle. At his old stomping ground, Igor Matanovic described the result as a “bitter defeat”. His head coach attested that the performance was good in the first half, in which his team had often found success in possession. “There were opportunities to take control of the game. On the whole, there were also a lot of tight moments that we could’ve used more effectively. We’ve got to take responsibility for that,” noted Schuster.

Early goalkeeping change

There was only one new name in the SC starting line-up compared to last week’s win at home against Mönchengladbach, with Lucas Höler replacing the suspended Niklas Beste.

In his fourth match as SGE head coach, Albert Riera made four changes to the side that were narrowly beaten by Bayern. Robin Koch, Mario Götze, Arnaud Kalimuendo and Jonathan Burkardt came into the XI in place of Ellyes Skhiri, former Freiburg player Ritsu Doan, Ayoube Amaimouni-Echghouyab and Mahmoud Dahoud.

The Spaniard’s side started the match on the wrong foot. After winning the ball in midfield, Suzuki played a ball through to Igor Matanovic. The onrushing Kaua Santos collided with his former teammate in his attempt to clear the ball and ended up having to be substituted, with Manuel Zetterer coming on for the injured shot stopper.

The first few minutes of the game were shaped almost entirely by the lengthy injury stoppage and, shortly after that, the opening stages developed into an intriguing contest between the seventh- and eighth-placed sides in the table. Time and again, SCF managed to play the ball out from their own defensive line into the opposition’s final third with some nice passing play, and Freiburg’s pressing also seemed to be having an impact on proceedings.

Atubolu with three key saves, Matanovic hits the post

Up until the 24th minute, Noah Atubolu was having a quiet afternoon between the sticks for Freiburg, but then the 23-year-old stopped Frankfurt from taking the lead with two saves in quick succession. Atubolu had to stretch to tip Nathaniel Brown’s shot from the edge of the box away from danger, before the keeper made another remarkable, flying save to deny Burkardt’s follow-up effort.

After that, the hosts continued to turn up the heat. Kalimuendo slipped past Günter in the box and let fly, but Freiburg’s number one showed his class once more with a reflex save (29’).

Even though the final quarter of an hour in the first half belonged to Frankfurt, Matanovic had a huge chance to give SCF a 1-0 lead going into the interval. Bruno Ogbus played the ball down the line to Christian Günter, and the captain put a floated cross into the middle of the box. The striker came out on top in an aerial duel with Koch, though his headed effort hit the woodwork.

Substitute Chaibi strikes

After finishing the first half on a high note going forward, SCF picked up where they left off at the start of the second 45. Suzuki drove down the right wing and cut the ball back into the middle of the box from the byline. There, Vincenzo Grifo drilled a shot towards the near corner but was denied by a fantastic reflex save from Zetterer (49’).

With just under half an hour before the final whistle, Riera looked to break the deadlock by making a double change. Doan and Chaibi entered the fray for Frankfurt. The latter would end up making an instant impact on the encounter. Less than a minute after coming on, the Algerian received the ball in the box and smashed it past Atubolu and into the far corner to put SGE in front (64’).

Freiburg quickly shook off the setback, stuck to their principles and intensified their attacking efforts. However, chances were few and far between for the away side until the closing stages of the game. In fact, Frankfurt ended up doubling their lead. Chaibi chipped the ball over SCF’s defensive line, with Bahoya latching onto the ball and producing a sublime finish to beat Atubolu and make it 2-0 to the home side (81’).

Substitute Scherhant had an opportunity to get a goal back for SC shortly before the end of the match, but Zetterer reacted strongly for the second time in the match to keep his clean sheet intact.

Freiburg will be back in action next Saturday at 15:30 CET when they host Bayer 04 Leverkusen at the Europa-Park Stadion.

Photo: SC Freiburg