Bundesliga surprise team SC Freiburg has lost ground in the hunt for leaders Bayern Munich. In this year’s DFB Cup final, coach Christian Streich’s team lost 3-1 (0-0) to in-form cup champion RB Leipzig on Wednesday evening. As a result, the Breisgauer, who had recently won three times in a row, are four points behind the record champions.
RB defender Mohamed Simakan (54th), star striker Christopher Nkunku (56th) with his twelfth goal of the season and Emil Forsberg with a penalty kick (78th) brought the Freiburg team their third defeat of the season, Lukas Kübler (66th) scored for the guests . Previously, the string team had only lost to Bayern (0:5) and Borussia Dortmund (1:3).
“Overall, the performance was just not good enough,” said SC professional Nicolas Höfler, who caused the penalty by an alleged foul sky. The referee’s whistle was an “absolute joke”, criticized Höfler. “Nkunku has gotten penalties against us time and time again in recent years – in my opinion, very few of them were justified.”
Streich also criticized the penalty decision and also indirectly criticized Nkunku, who in his eyes falls too easily. “I don’t know how many times there’s been a touch against a certain player in the last five or six games. Penalties are awarded every time. I’ve always thought that fouls lead to a penalty and if there’s a touch, why do you whistle? You have someone who can watch it in the video. No, the whistle goes straight away and that’s the end of the game,” said Streich.
SC goalkeeper Mark Flekken couldn’t understand the decision either. “With all love, when I see the scene, you should whistle for every hold and every corner kick situation. As long as the referees understand it, but I don’t understand it,” said the Dutch national keeper.
The Leipzig team, who started so weakly and have not been defeated for twelve competitive games, are now very close to the Champions League ranks. Coach Marco Rose’s team even overtook BVB with 25 points and is now within striking distance of SC (27).
“It’s a big task ahead of us. We need a great day and maybe a bit of luck,” Streich warned before the game. And the people of Freiburg took advantage of that early on. If the Leipzig team had lost their teeth despite their superiority in ball possession on the five-man chain, the SC had the second-best defense in the league to date, things suddenly happened very quickly.
After a quick free kick by Dominik Szoboszlai, Christopher Nkunku (16′) was free and lobbed the ball against the outside of the post. Bitter for RB: Shortly thereafter, defender Josko Gvardiol (23rd) had to be replaced with a suspected broken nose. He heard the same thing, said RB coach Marco Rose.
RB Leipzig unleashed after the break
A final diagnosis is still pending. Gvardiol was then taken to the hospital for tests. “The eye is swollen. He looks like a boxer after the twelfth round against a tough opponent,” Rose said. Gvardiol had only started for Abdou Diallo just before the game because the latter had felt pain in his knee during the warm-up.
The hosts hardly seemed shocked. RB occupied the SC, who rarely ventured forward, and started creating chances. Both Andre Silva (24th) and Benjamin Henrichs (28th), who came on for Gvardiol, were sent down brilliantly, but both aimed wide of the goal from the inside right. SC goalkeeper Mark Flekken (38th) was just able to scrape an Orban header deflected off the line by Freiburg’s Philipp Lienhart.
After the break, RB ran like unleashed. Flekken initially saved in dire need against Nkunku (52′) and Szoboszlai (54′), but then the Leipzig double strike followed. Simakan smashed a crossbar rebound after another Nkunku attempt over the line, before Nkunku was sent steeply and Flekken didn’t stand a chance in a one-on-one. Just two minutes later, the Dutch keeper made another save against Silva. But Kübler brought Freiburg back into play with a great shot from the edge of the penalty area. Forsberg made it clear after a foul on Nkunku from the penalty spot.
RB Leipzig – SC Freiburg: The voices
Marco Rose (RB Leipzig coach): “All in all, it’s a deserved win. We knew that Christian would come up with something. We wanted to narrow the space and switch things around, but we didn’t allow almost anything. We kept having chances to score, although it wasn’t easy to create some We’re glad we got the points and got rewarded.”
Christian Streich (Coach SC Freiburg): “Leipzig’s victory is absolutely deserved. Playing against Leipzig now is the most difficult time. It’s a tremendous pace. We tried to play a back three in 3-5-2 to avoid this transition game. I made a mistake. We should have changed three or four players at half-time. We discussed it but didn’t do it. It was my mistake.”
RB Leipzig – SC Freiburg: The data for the game
Leipzig: Blaswich – Simakan, Orban, Gvardiol (23. Henrichs), Halstenberg – Schlager, Kampl (83. Haidara) – Szoboszlai (83. Poulsen), Olmo (60. Forsberg) – Silva (83. Raum), Nkunku. – Coach: Rose
Freiburg: Flekken – Kübler, Ginter, Lienhart – Sildillia, Maximilian Eggestein, Höfler (83rd Keitel), Günter (55th Sallai) – Jeong (59th Höler), Gregoritsch (55th Schade), Doan (59th Grifo). – Coach: Prank
Referee: Harm Osmers (Hanover)
Gates: 1-0 Simakan (54′), 2-0 Nkunku (56′), 2-1 Kübler (66′), 3-1 Forsberg (78′, penalty kick)
