SC Freiburg can continue to hope for their first participation in the Champions League. The Breisgauer won on match day 30 of the Bundesliga 3-0 (2-0) against newly promoted VfL Bochum and on points have at least temporarily drawn level with RB Leipzig in fourth place.
Lukas Kübler (4th) and Roland Sallai (16th/53rd) scored for Freiburg, who could reach the final of the DFB Cup for the first time next Tuesday with a win in the semifinals at second division Hamburger SV. To make matters worse, Bochum’s Konstantinos Stafylidis saw the red card for VfL (68′).
In front of 34,000 spectators in Freiburg, the hosts started like firefighters. First, Maximilian Eggestein missed after preparatory work by Nils Petersen (3rd). Shortly thereafter, full-back Kübler carpentered the ball into the goal corner after a strong pass from Nicolas Höfler.
Even after the goal, Freiburg, who had to do without Manuel Gulde, Kevin Schade and Yannik Keitel, continued to press hard on the gas. The second goal was in the air for a long time – before Sallai finally scored from Wooyeong Jeong’s assist. Bochum was literally overrun in the early stages.
Even in the middle of the first half, VfL only took part in the game when Freiburg allowed it from time to time. Despite short breather breaks, the third goal of the clearly superior Breisgau seemed to be only a matter of time.
SC Freiburg – VfL Bochum: “Everything went well”
In the last ten minutes of the first half, Bochum were a bit more present, especially the duels were fought by the guests with more determination than before. The SC managed the lead without any problems until the break. In the 44th minute, Jeong even posed another threat in front of the Bochum goal.
“It was an inspiring performance, a really great first half, everything went well,” said Freiburg sports director Jochen Saier during the break sky.
At the beginning of the second half, Bochum coach Thomas Reis brought in three new players. Simon Zoller, Elvis Rexhbecaj and Danny Blum should do better than Danilo Soares, Takuma Asano and Milos Pantovic.
In fact, Bochum took over for a few minutes, the SC acted too passively. The team coached by Christian Streich scored the next goal. Sallai headed in again after Jeong set up the ball.
After almost 70 minutes, Stafylidis was so frustrated that he rudely pulled Sallai off his feet. Reis was so upset about the justifiable dismissal that referee Karsten Stegemann (Niederkassel) sent him to the stands.
SC Freiburg – VfL Bochum: The voices of the coaches
Christian Streich (Coach SC Freiburg): “Today we were a lot better in terms of football than we were last time in Frankfurt. We were very alert in crucial situations and strong in the tackle. We played a great game.”
Thomas Reis (coach VfL Bochum): “We were completely inferior in every respect. We couldn’t hold back at any stage of the game. We were completely inferior. We made simple mistakes. We didn’t feel like we won a duel in the centre.”
