Nils Petersen: Everyone loves Freiburg’s super joker

Nils Petersen enchants the Breisgau. Thanks to an overhead kick goal by the striker, the strong run of SC Freiburg continues.

They wanted it, they got it. “Petersen, Petersen” shouted the fans of SC Freiburg who had traveled with them in the Berlin Olympic Stadium – and the overhead kick artist happily stepped out of the crowd of his teammates. After the 2: 1 (1: 0) victory at Hertha BSC, Nils Petersen agreed to the Humba in front of the supporters and thus celebrated the next personal milestone.

30 Joker goals in 250 Bundesliga games, the hit record as a substitute further expanded: His remarkable winning goal (78th) in Berlin – he was only two minutes in the game – made Petersen proud. “First and foremost, you play for team success,” said the 32-year-old, “but when you score as a striker and can be way ahead of some statistics, that’s nice too.”

But how does something like that work? How does a clipper like Petersen stand right in these moments and shoot such an important goal surrounded by opponents and in the fall? “It was a bustle in the penalty area,” said Petersen: “The way I actually like it that the ball falls down somewhere for the defenders and it is difficult to clear.” A real goalscorer.

In the current season, in which Freiburg is undefeated in seven games, Petersen has only been substituted on four times. Saturday’s feat was his first goal of the season. He is no longer the first choice for coach Christian Streich and yet he remains of inestimable value for the coach. “The Nils is a great athlete and a person a coach wants,” praised Streich.

He recalled the year 2015, when Petersen came to Freiburg on loan from Werder Bremen in the winter and the Breisgauers were later relegated. The attacker stayed anyway. Streich has not forgotten that to this day. “He is a role model for this team,” he said: “And the fans in Freiburg and all over Germany love him because as a person he is who he is.”