MWith the effectiveness of a well-mannered top team, SC Freiburg is also hot on the heels of new Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich. At the end of the 13th matchday, the Breisgauers won 2-0 (0-0) against 1. FC Köln despite a mixed performance and are only one point behind the record champions. “It was a very good performance from us. Everyone takes part. If someone makes a mistake, the next one is there,” said captain Christian Günter. FC goalkeeper Marvin Schwäbe complained: “We just ran after them for long stretches.”
Woo-Yeong Jeong (53′) and Michael Gregoritsch (64′) scored for Freiburg, who are unbeaten in six competitive games in the best season in their history. With 27 points on the account, the sports club, which also shone in the Europa League by reaching the round of 16 for the first time, has more points than ever before at this point in a season.
“It’s a wonderful snapshot,” said Freiburg sports director Jochen Saier shortly after the kick-off at DAZN about his club’s comfortable situation: “The squad is the key to success. We have never had such density, breadth and peak.”
In front of 33,800 spectators, the hosts were close to taking the lead in the first few minutes. Captain Christian Günter after 50 seconds and Vincenzo Grifo (3rd) couldn’t take advantage of the chances. On the other hand, Florian Kainz failed to punish SC goalkeeper Mark Flekken’s misplay (6′).
Despite this uncertainty, the people of Freiburg, who have to prove themselves to RB Leipzig in the next game on Wednesday (8.30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and on Sky), continued to set the tone against the defensive Cologne team. However, the SC lacked precision in the final.
After half an hour the game had become boring. The guests, who were eliminated from the Conference League on Thursday, had little trouble with Freiburg’s uninspired offensive efforts.
The fact that FC were missing captain Jonas Hector, Timo Hübers, Sebastian Andersson, Florian Dietz and Dejan Ljubicic was not important at this stage. Towards the end of the first half, even Cologne were close to taking the lead.
At the beginning of the second round, Freiburg increased the number of strokes. That was promptly rewarded by South Korea’s Jeong’s first goal of the season. In the 60th minute, Flekken set up another goal for Cologne, but Linton Maina didn’t accept the invitation. Shortly thereafter, Gregoritsch was on the other side with his head. It was the Austrian’s fifth goal of the season. In the minutes that followed, Freiburg managed the lead.
