SC Freiburg has celebrated its sixth win of the season in the Bundesliga and remains on the heels of leaders Union Berlin. Three days after the exhausting success in the DFB Cup against FC St. Pauli (2-1 aet), Christian Streich’s team beat a decimated Werder Bremen 2-0 (0-0). With 21 points from eleven games, Freiburg is only two points behind Union, which can improve on Sunday.
Even after the end of the game, the fans got up from their seats, sang about their next beautiful football afternoon in Breisgau, and even long after the final whistle, hardly anyone wanted to leave their seat. “SC Freiburg ahead, again and again,” rang out the stadium speakers and thousands of throats – with the 2-0 (0-0) win over a decimated Werder Bremen, the sports club remained at the top of the Bundesliga.
“We’re going step by step in this direction,” said Freiburg’s sporting director Jochen Saier sky“the view of the big picture fits. But you saw today how hard we have to work for it.”
Three days after the strenuous success in the DFB Cup against FC St. Pauli (2:1 aet), the next win didn’t come by itself. Bremen, who only lost the cup on penalties at SC Paderborn during the week, defended bravely – although captain Marco Friedl had already seen red in the early stages because of an emergency brake (14th).
Werder Bremen: Red for Friedl
Lukas Kübler (56th) and Vincenzo Grifo (80th, penalty kick) nevertheless made it clear that they deserved victory in front of 34,700 spectators in the sold-out stadium. With 21 points from eleven games, Freiburg is only two points behind leaders Union Berlin, who could improve on Sunday.
For Werder, who remain on 15 points, it was the first away defeat this season – but it was the third competitive defeat in a row. “We are always missing important players at the moment, unfortunately you can tell,” said Bremen striker Niclas Füllkrug.
Freiburg took control early on, but were unable to create any significant chances in the early stages despite having more possession. Friedl then saw red in the 14th minute – after Michael Gregoritsch had played past the defender, the 24-year-old only knew how to help himself with a foul.
SC Freiburg: Grifo now record Italian
Freiburg set the tone until half-time, but weren’t more compelling in front of goal. There was a lack of ideas against deep-lying Bremen, who in turn only became halfway dangerous once through Amos Pieper (23rd).
After the change of sides, the deserved lead fell. Kübler hit the far corner from a half-right position. A little later, Gregoritsch already had the preliminary decision on his feet (67th), but failed completely free. While Freiburg pushed for the second goal from now on, Bremen were mainly busy with defensive work – Grifo was then fouled late and casually converted the following penalty.
This makes the Freiburg playmaker the new Italian record goalscorer in the Bundesliga. With 39 goals, he is just ahead of former Bayern star Luca Toni.
SC Freiburg – SV Werder Bremen: The voices of the game
Christian Streich (Coach SC Freiburg): “It was good up to the red card, but without the red card it would have been a 50-50 game. It took us a while after that, the half-time was good. The team defended very well and were able to build up pressure again and again “I’m really happy to win against such a team. Of course it was a big advantage to play 11:10, but you have to play that cleanly too.”
Ole Werner (Werder Bremen coach): “In the end, I can’t fault my team much, they threw everything in and fought self-sacrificingly, not allowing much. What was missing was that we could have counterattacked ourselves. At the end of the day, Freiburg did it cleverly and didn’t offer us much.”
