Dhe SC Freiburg coped well with the defeat at German champions FC Bayern Munich less than a week ago. Because after moving into the round of 16 of the DFB Cup last Wednesday, the Europa League participants also reported back in the Bundesliga with a win. Freiburg won 2-0 (0-0) against newly promoted SV Werder Bremen on Saturday afternoon.
In their third home win this season, the Breisgauer benefited from an early dismissal. In the table, they consolidate third place, Bremen are still in the middle of the table. “Of course it was a big advantage to play 11:10, but you have to play that cleanly too,” said Freiburg coach Christian Streich after the game.
After the red card against Marco Friedl (14th), Freiburg took control in front of 34,700 spectators. But it took until the 56th minute before Lukas Kübler redeemed the hosts. Vincenzo Grifo made the decision with a converted penalty (80′).
by Friedl
Unlike the 2-1 win after extra time in the cup against FC St. Pauli, in which coach Christian Streich had rotated a lot, Freiburg got into the game better this time. As usual, they attacked the Bremen defenders early and thus came up with dangerous actions.
Werder captain Friedl tried to prevent one of them by holding onto Michael Gregoritsch’s jersey. Referee Bastian Dankert rated the action as an emergency brake and stuck to his decision even after a discussion with the video assistant.
The majority played into the hands of the Freiburgers, who started with seven new players compared to the cup game. Killiann Sildillia missed the best opportunity immediately after being sent off. The Frenchman, whom Streich surprisingly deployed on the right wing, pushed the ball past the Bremen goal. Jiri Pavlenka in goal now had a lot more work to do because Freiburg pressed and had almost 60 percent possession of the ball. He had the upper hand against Nicolas Höfler (21st) and Daniel-Kofi Kyereh (29th).
But even with a majority, the hosts struggled against Bremen’s tightly staggered defence. With Marvin Ducksch, who was recently suspended, and his fellow striker Niclas Füllkrug, the most offensive Bremen team was only about 30 meters from their own goal.
Werder is not one of Freiburg’s favorite opponents anyway. Freiburg never won in the past six games. And Streich had warned of this game because of the results so far. “They win in Hoffenheim – you can hardly do that right now. And they deserve to win in Dortmund after falling behind,” he said.
In Freiburg, however, the guests did not come back after Kübler fell behind. The promoted right-back had already scored on the European stage in a game against FC Nantes. Now he followed up in front of his home crowd and Grifo eliminated the last doubts about the first win against Bremen since mid-February 2018 with his lob from the point.
