Four days after their ‘international derby’ against FC Basel, SCF were involved in a league clash with fellow Baden-based side TSG Hoffenheim. Julian Schuster made two changes to his starting line-up from the 2-1 victory that kicked off SC’s Europa League campaign. Eren Dinkci came in for Johan Manzambi, who is serving a suspension in the league. Jordy Makengo returned at left-back in place of Christian Günter. Philipp Lienhart remains missing due to illness.

Hoffenheim, who, like Freiburg, had started the Bundesliga season with two wins and two defeats, made two changes from their 4-1 loss to record champions FC Bayern. Arthur Chaves and Andrej Kramaric replaced Albian Hajdari and Muhammed Damar.

A fast start

With less than three minutes on the clock, the SCF supporters were already celebrating  the opening goal.  Vincenzo Grifo’s corner found Junior Adamu at the far post. Adamu played the ball back across the six-yard box, and Lukas Kübler was there to force it over the line. The offside flag was initially raised, and this led to a nervous few minutes before the goal was awarded and the SC fans could erupt in jubilation.

Unfortunately, Freiburg’s lead did not last long. Vladimir Coufal pounced after an error in communication between Anthony Jung and Grifo. Coufal advanced unchallenged into the penalty area and found Fisnik Asllani in the middle. The attacker made no mistake as he slotted past Noah Atubolu from around four yards out (13’).

Despite the two early goals, the spectators at the Europa-Park Stadion watched a somewhat disjointed first half hour, in which both sides lost the ball in midfield on multiple occasions. SC played themselves into trouble several times after making simple mistakes on the ball.

During a period in which both teams mostly cancelled each other out, Niklas Beste’s dangerous corner delivery was the only time either side really threatened (33’). Both the hosts and the visitors showed plenty of endeavour during the game, but were lacking precision in their play.

The Freiburg coaches were forced into making their first change before half time. Kübler, who had been involved in an unfortunate collision with Bernardo during an aerial duel, tried to stay on the pitch, but eventually had to be replaced by Philipp Treu (38’).

Despite seven minutes of injury time, there were no more goals in the first period, and it remained 1-1 at half time.

Few chances but plenty of determination

SCF came out full of energy after half time, and got to the opponent’s byline on several occasions. Their resulting crosses into the centre were either blocked or could not find a teammate. The hosts continued to give little away defensively, but clearcut chances remained hard to come by, other than Patrick Osterhage’s low shot, which went narrowly wide (67’).

Overall, SC looked the more likely of the two sides to get that second goal. However, neither team were really able to make their mark on proceedings in the second half. Noah Atubolu was only called into action again in the 88th minute, and he was fully alert despite a mostly quiet afternoon. In a one-on-one with Tim Lemperle, the Freiburg goalkeeper preserved the point for his team with a strong reflex save, and also kept out a free kick from a dangerous position soon after.

It finished in a 1-1 draw, which was a fair result based on the teams’ performances. Schuster took some positives from the game. “That was a very intensive encounter. Neither side gave much away and they were both very disciplined. They were always fighting for the second balls. In these sorts of matches, you need to embrace that so you can turn the game in your favour. Taking the lead was good for us, but we couldn’t really build on it as we conceded soon after. I’m entirely satisfied with the way the team acquitted themselves and the performance they put in today.”

SC’s next match sees them travel to face Bologna in their second Europa League fixture on Thursday (18:45 CEST). Freiburg will then visit Borussia Mönchengladbach on Sunday (19:30 CEST) ahead of the second international break of the season.

Photo: Achim Keller