“We weren’t good enough on the ball for the first 35 minutes, and we gave away possession too many times in the opposition half. That allowed Köln to grow into the game and we then conceded cheaply. The second half was okay, though. After the disallowed goal it was an open, close contest. At the end of the day, we didn’t deserve to lose that game,” summarised Christian Streich after the 1-0 defeat.

The same starting Xi was named that beat Stuttgart 2-0 two weeks ago, and there weren’t any changes on the bench.

André Pawlak, who took charge on the touchline in place of Steffen Baumgart, who missed the game through illness, brought Mark Uth and Jan Thielmann into the line-up in place of Ondrej Duda and Louis Schaub both began for Köln during their 2-2 draw over VfL Bochum.

Modeste makes it 1-0

10,000 fans were permitted to attend the contest between fifth place and eighth place in the league at the RheinEnergieSTADION in person, and saw the home team start positively from the first whistle onwards, and despite not creating any real chances during this time, they were seeing a lot of the ball.

It took SC around fifteen minutes to grow into the game after having to withstand Köln’s intensity during the opening phases. Ermedin Demirovic linked up nicely with Lucas Höler just after the twenty-minute mark and had the first proper chance of the game from a tight angle, but his effort went just past the far post.

Shortly afterwards, the hosts attempted to score past Mark Flekken, firstly via an Anthony Modeste header which went wide (21’), before they opened the scoring just two minutes later. Nico Schlotterbeck slipped during a foot race with Jan Thielmann and the Köln player got away. He then got his head up and played to Modeste, who was open in plenty of space, and he beat Flekken to give FC Köln the lead (23’).

SC failed to make a strong reaction to going behind initially, as the hosts continued to cut the passing lanes and shut down Freiburg’s build-up play. It was only just before half time that SC had two really big chances. Marvin Schwäbe saved a well-placed long shot from Maximilian Eggestein, and then Philipp Lienhart’s header went just inches over the bar (45+1’).

Equaliser disallowed

Freiburg reacted to the deficit at the start of the second half, bringing on Roland Sallai for Kevin Schade, and the Hungarian was straight into the thick of the action. Vincenzo Grifo sent Christian Günter through from a free kick who dribbled into the box and picked out Sallai at the far post, who then fired a low shot towards the far corner. Referee Dr. Felix Brych decided that Nico Schlotterbeck, who was standing in an offside position, obstructed the view of keeper Marvin Schwäbe as the shot came in, and he then ruled out SC’s equaliser (53’).

It would have been a deserved equaliser given SC’s performance in the second half. But the disallowed goal appeared to have had an effect on the Freiburg players, and this allowed the hosts a multitude of chances, somewhat supported by SC defensive mistakes (55’, 57’, 64’). Fortunately for SC, Köln were unable to take any of these chances during what was a hectic period.

Around 25 minutes before full time, Freiburg rallied somewhat, but they were unable to overcome the strong Köln defence. The fact that no dangerous chances occurred after Christian Günter’s shot from the edge of the box in the 72nd minute is because of the way Köln were able to hold on and stay resolute in defence.

Christian Streich made some offensive changes in the closing stages of the game, bringing on Nils Petersen for midfielder Maximilian Eggestein. Jonathan Schmid also made his return to the first team following a long period of absence. But despite SC’s best efforts to snatch a late goal, they did not manage to do so, and the game ended 1-0 to the hosts.