With avoidable blunders, the Hoffenheim team in Freiburg deprived themselves of their wages. Coach Pellegrino Matarazzo commented on Ozan Kabak’s dismissal.
Ozan Kabak was sent off.
IMAGO/Langer
Oliver Baumann left Freiburg nine years ago in order to use and pursue the supposedly better prospects in Hoffenheim. That has been successful in the meantime, after all, the goalkeeper has already played internationally with the Kraichgauers, even in the Champions League. This time, however, the 32-year-old returned to his former place of work as a potential relegated player and had to hope that the internationally stressed SC could lose strength. But Baumann of all people initially strengthened the opponent when he left the goal prematurely and without consulting his front man John Anthony Brooks, who clarified the situation, missed the ball and hit Freiburg’s Eggestein into the empty goal.
After all, TSG seemed unimpressed by this renewed setback, often switched the game to the Freiburg half and also got a well-deserved equalizer from Angelo Stiller. When the first point gained under coach Pellegrino Matarazzo seemed to be on the horizon, however, Ozan Kabak briefly lost his nerve and picked up a completely unnecessary yellow-red card. The defender, who had already been warned, grabbed the ball after a free-kick decision against Hoffenheim and threw it away from the scene of the crime in a demonstrative and time-delayed manner in front of the referee’s eyes – and then wondered about the inevitable consequence: sending off.
The defender, who had been effective until then, had done his colleagues a disservice and given the hosts, who were now numerically superior, the decisive advantage. Shortly before the end, Doan promptly used it to score the winning goal, also because the substitute Angelino once again came too late with the decisive defensive step.
Matarazzo: “I don’t want to sugarcoat it”
“A stupid yellow-red card,” said goalscorer Angelo Stiller, “we were actually better in the game, that felt really good.” Matarazzo, too, did not have to search long to find the cause of the fifth defeat in the fifth game under his leadership. “The sticking points were Freiburg’s efficiency and the yellow-red card that happened unnecessarily,” said the TSG coach. “We know what we have in Ozan, he’s a real fighter and hits it with a lot of emotions.” One too many this time. “He probably wasn’t aware at the moment that he already had a yellow card, I don’t want to sugarcoat that, he has to keep a cool head, but I really feel sorry for the boy,” admitted Matarazzo. Kabak, who had already seen yellow-red in Cologne in the first half of the season, now has to pause in the important relegation duel with Hertha BSC next weekend.
The Hoffenheim pros are strongly recommended to keep a cool head throughout in order to get away from the bottom of the table with the first points under Matarazzo and not seriously jeopardize the job of their second coach this season.
