At the anniversary of coach Christian Streich, SC Freiburg suffered the third defeat in a row. At 1: 2 (0: 0) at VfL Bochum, a dream goal by Milos Pantovic made the decision.
Christian Streich rowed his arms, discussed with the linesman, pushed his players forward – but it didn’t help. At the final whistle after his 300th Bundesliga game on the sideline of SC Freiburg, the cult coach stood empty-handed and quickly disappeared into the cabin aisle after the 1: 2 (0: 0) at the newly promoted VfL Bochum. The strong starters from Breisgau remain third in the table for the time being, but have lost their footing with three bankruptcies in a row.
“I’m disappointed we shouldn’t have lost because we were clearly the better team,” said Vincenzo Grifo on Sky. After the SC lead by Philipp Lienhart (51st) and the prompt equalization by Sebastian Polter (54th), a dream goal by Milos Pantovic (82nd) made the decision.
The Joker almost hit from the center line. “It’s just instinct. I immediately had the feeling that he was going in,” said Pantovic, who had already achieved this feat in the win against Hoffenheim. For those returning from the Bundesliga, Bochum, it was the fourth competitive win in a row at the Ruhrstadion at home.
“If we win, it could be a cool day,” said Jubilar Streich before the game. The 56-year-old is only the sixth coach in Bundesliga history to have sat on the bench at a club for 300 or more games. The game in Bochum was actually his 302nd as head coach, but in the 2018/19 season he had to be represented twice because of a spinal disc injury.
SC Freiburg deserves the lead – Polter turns the game
Freiburg started offensive to celebrate the day: Nico Schlotterbeck narrowly missed the goal with a header (6th). Bochum’s goalkeeper Manuel Riemann, who had overcome his muscular problems in time, had to intervene much more often than his counterpart Mark Flekken. The SC was often a step faster, and Streich drove his team forward with great gestures and commitment. The only problem: no goal was scored.
Lucas Höler had the greatest chance first, who twice brought the ball past Riemann within seconds, but Vassilios Lampropoulos and Erhan Masovic saved for their goalkeeper (22nd). Shortly before the break, Riemann steered the ball to the post after a shot by Schlotterbeck (45th).
Bochum, on the other hand, did little on the offensive, and the Freiburg back four had hardly any problems. After changing sides, the picture did not change at first. The guests rewarded themselves with a well-deserved lead after Vincenzo Grifo’s free kick.
But almost in return, Polter equalized after taking the ball from Anthony Losilla and a pass from Gerrit Holtmann. With a brilliant save, Riemann prevented another deficit against Höler (62nd). The VfL keeper was now much more in the spotlight than his opponent Flekken, but the goal was scored by the hosts.
VfL Bochum versus SC Freiburg: The votes
Thomas Reis (coach VfL Bochum): “Even if Christian can’t buy anything for it, congratulations for the 300th game. Today we had the necessary luck, of course with a very good goalkeeper. The team has strengthened itself, we did not break apart after falling behind. We are happy, took a lucky win against a great Freiburg team. “
Christian Streich (coach SC Freiburg): “I’m a little confused. My team played a really good game, we had endless chances, but we failed because of a very good goalkeeper. It takes me two or three days to do that. It’s unbelievable that we’re losing the game. “
