Dhe SC Freiburg continues to belong to the top flight of the Bundesliga and increases VfB Stuttgart’s worries about relegation. In the 2-1 (0-1) home win on Saturday, the Breisgauers turned the game around with two goals from the point without their suspended coach Christian Streich. Chris Führich gave VfB the lead after half an hour before Vincenzo Grifo kept his nerve after two penalties (60’/84′). In each case, the referee Sascha Stegemann only decided on foul after the video referee had spoken.
The Stuttgarters are still in danger of relegation due to the defeat and have not only been waiting for a win abroad since December 11, 2021. Under coach returnee Bruno Labbadia, they have not yet been able to win in five league games. Instead of Streich, his co-trainer Lars Voßler stood on the sidelines. “He’s a different guy. He can also be emotional, he’s great in terms of content, but overall he’s calmer,” said sports director Jochen Saier in an interview with TV broadcaster Sky. “Lars is great and will be assisted by Julian Schuster. So we feel very well positioned.”
Daniel-Kofi Kyereh was also missing from Freiburg. The offensive player suffered a cruciate ligament tear in training. His teammates expressed their sympathy by wearing printed T-shirts with Kyereh’s number and name on them. But VfB also had to cope with a short-term absence. Goalkeeper Florian Müller could not stand between the posts due to stomach problems. He was replaced by Fabian Bredlow, who was allowed to prove himself for the first time after less than half a minute. In the eleventh minute, the goalkeeper reacted quickly in his third appearance of the season.
Freiburg is unimpressed
At first, the guests hardly made an appearance on the offensive. Borna Sosa undertook the first harmless attempts. The Croatian, third in the World Cup, brought a few crosses into the penalty area within a few minutes on his comeback in the starting XI, but they did not pose a problem for the SC defense team. Führich did better in the 30th minute when he shot from distance.
The 25-year-old had been repeatedly criticized for making wrong decisions in recent weeks. But he hit the right one with his opening goal, Mark Flekken in the Freiburg goal was powerless. Freiburg were unimpressed by the deficit. Labbadia sensed that his team was coming under more and more pressure. He loudly urged his players to take a more active part in the game again.
But even after the break, Freiburg remained more dangerous. However, Michael Gregoritsch was offside when he supposedly equalized, as the video referee confirmed (51st). A little later, the VAR intervened again. This time the Breisgauers were awarded a penalty. Grifo converted, although Bredlow jumped in the right corner, and in the closing stages Grifo again had the SC supporters cheering. Things got tight again with a free-kick from Sosa, which, however, failed to hit the crossbar.
