Shortly before the end, the Bochum midfielder Milos Pantovic stood alone in front of the Freiburg goal. From ten meters he just had to push the ball past Mark Flekken. But he failed at the goalkeeper. “I was too close,” joked Pantovic afterwards. The 25-year-old Serb needs the long distances to hit the goal. In the previous home game against Hoffenheim, he scored the 2-0 final score from 66 meters in the 97th minute. Against SC Freiburg he scored the 2-1 winner from 45 meters in the 82nd minute. But the most incredible thing is that he scored his goal from 66 meters with his left, and that from 45 meters with his right. Pantovic would be one for “Wetten, dass ..?”.
“You can feel that,” says the long-time FC Bayern Munich youth player, both about the long shots on goal and the anticipation of such shooting opportunities. As an observer, you can’t get rid of the feeling that the native of Munich would also have become a great golfer with a splendid tee shot. “We are happy that we have such a magic foot in the team with Milos,” said VfL coach Thomas Reis. “But he doesn’t do any special long-range training; we train game situations that are more important.”
With eyes and heads: Milos Pantovic is currently noticeable as a distance expert.
(Photo: Tim Rehbein/RHR-Photo/imago)
SC Freiburg actually decided the important game situations for themselves on Saturday. He had more and better chances to score. But he failed on goalkeeper Manuel Riemann. In addition, the referee Patrick Ittrich denied the Black Forests a dismissal from Bochum for Anthony Losilla (42nd) and a penalty (62nd) when Losilla blocked a shot by Vinzenco Grifo with his hand.
“Without a referee we don’t have a chance,” the Bochum fans sang at the beginning, reminding them of wrong decisions in the 1-0 defeat in Leverkusen. This time, however, Bochum was “lucky to play”, as coach Reis called it. Freiburg coach Christian Streich said after his 300th game as Bundesliga coach: “Of all 300 games, this was one of the most unfair results.”
Three weeks ago, Pantovic had hit with his left from 66 meters on the left near the sidelines because Hoffenheim’s goalkeeper Oliver Baumann had gone forward with a corner. This time Pantovic hit with the right from the center circle, because after a long Bochum ball the Freiburg goalkeeper Flekken had already got far out of his goal, but the Freiburg defender Philipp Lienhart got ahead of him and slipped the ball so unlucky that Pantovic played with his right could shoot in a high arc into the orphaned goal.
Freiburg goalkeeper Mark Flekken sprinted after the ball in vain.
(Photo: Revierfoto / imago)
Freiburg coach Christian Streich raves about VfL Bochum
Once again, a home game for VfL Bochum turned into a spectacle. Because of Corona, there were only 19 700 spectators in the stadium. They saw the third home win in a row and at the same time the third Freiburg defeat in a row. Lienhart had brought the guests 1-0 lead (51st). Sebastian Polter equalized for the hosts three minutes later (54th).
The Bochum home games are almost faster this season than the Starlight Express musical right next door, in which the workforce is out singing on roller skates the whole evening. Even Freiburg’s coach Streich, although “disconcerted” by the defeat, sang a song of praise for the Bochum team, the club and the stadium. “It was a lot of fun against very intense Bochumers in this wonderful stadium. VfL is just a great club. For me, that’s football here.”
The concrete building in the middle of the city with its retro floodlight masts triggers tender feelings in a football romantic like a prank. It goes with the fact that the Bochumers show true passion in every home game, matching a line from Herbert Grönemeyer’s song “Bochum”, which is heard before every game: “Here, where the heart still counts, not big money.”
Streich says: “16 points are outstanding for VfL Bochum at the moment. If I were a fan of VfL Bochum and VfL managed to stay in the league, then I would say: That’s great. Just take a look who’s been in the past Years everything has been relegated: Hamburg, Schalke, Bremen, even Wolfsburg was relegated twice. “
For Bochum’s coach Reis, these words in the press conference were like a hug. “The team has grown together and together with the great crowd we achieved a happy victory.” With 16 points, the number one relegation candidate VfL has two points less than Borussia Mönchengladbach and two more than Hertha BSC. The fans don’t know what to do with their feelings of happiness. When Pantovic scored the winning goal from 45 meters, the east stand looked like a sizzling lasagna. “Our fans?”, Says Pantovic: “Brutal!”
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