"We wanted to continue pressing high in the second half as well: We’d done that really well in the first 45 minutes. But Stuttgart played really well after that. It’s really difficult, of course Stuttgart would have deserved a point in the end," said Christian Streich after an enthralling 90 minutes of football. Pellegrino Matarazzo also gave a positive account of the game, despite losing: "We started well and took the lead, then Freiburg improved and deservedly went in front. We dominated the second half, but just couldn’t find the equaliser."

The eagerly anticipated SCF starting XI had two personnel changes and one formation change. Wooyeong Jeong replaced Roland Sallai on the right wing, after the latter twisted his ankle against Frankfurt. Jonathan Schmid returned from injury and replaced Lukas Kübler in the starting line-up, which was changed from a 4-4-2 against Frankfurt back to a 3-4-3.

Early goals at both ends

After a seamless transition from the first half of the season into the second, both teams proved from the get-go that this was not necessarily a disadvantage. The Swabian visitors - the second best away team in the league, incidentally – got the better of the opening stages. The rapid Silas Wamangituka sailed past Jonathan Schmid, found Didavi in the middle, whose shot was saved by Florian Müller but only to the feet of Wamangituka, who finished the move off with a goal, which was eventually given after a VAR check deemed him onside (7’).

That said, Freiburg were no passengers in this game, and had their first chance to draw level in the twelfth minute through Jeong. Just two minutes later, SCF did draw level. As has often been the case this season, the goal came as a result of some fine link-up play down the left wing. Christian Günter broke through, found Jeong in the middle, played the pass and watched the ball bounce off Jeong’s feet into the path of Ermedin Demirovic who scored his third goal of the season via a deflection from twelve yards.

In the 22nd minute, Streich and Co. were on their feet celebrating in the dugout again. Once again, the two players involved were Demirovic and Jeong, this time, the Bosnian set up his South Korean teammate with a delightful backheel. Jeong powered his way past Stenzel before beating Kobel to put SCF in front.

With the lead in their pocket, Streich’s men began to dominate, almost doubling their lead in the 40th and 43rd minute, but came even closer to conceding in first-half stoppage time. Janik Haberer brought down Silas Wamangituka in the penalty area, but Florian Müller guessed the right way for Gonzalez’s rather weak effort, keeping Freiburg’s lead intact at the break.

Stuttgart push for the equaliser

Penalty hero in the first half, Florian Müller, was at the heart of the action after the restart as well. Just one minute after kick-off, he pulled off a world class save to deny Wamangituka the equaliser. VfB, who were undoubtedly the better side after the change of ends, had more chances in the 55th and the 60th minute – but SCF’s defence had the answers.

While Matarazzo’s men increased the pressure, SCF responded by sitting deeper and waiting patiently for the chance to counter, but such chances were few and far between. The SCF backline had to conjure up every ounce of their concentration and fight with all their might to survive the visitors’ relentless onslaughts.

Stuttgart created chance after chance, but if Schlotterbeck and Gulde weren’t there to prevent the goal, then Florian Müller was. With the full-time whistle approaching, even the post came to SCF’s rescue. A nail-biting affair for SC Freiburg, but they survived with all three points to show for their efforts. This was the club’s first home win against Stuttgart since 2013. Freiburg remain ninth in the Bundesliga table, now with 27 points to their name.

Next Sunday, Streich’s men travel to VfL Wolfsburg for an 18:00 CET kick-off.