SC Freiburg experienced a bitter cup evening. Coach Christian Streich’s team suffered a bitter home defeat against second division team SC Paderborn.
After the final whistle, the SC Paderborn players didn’t seem to be able to really believe what had happened on this cup evening in the Freiburg stadium. Finally, coach Lukas Kwasniok’s team deservedly won 3-1 against Bundesliga club and favorite SC Freiburg on Wednesday (November 1st, 2023).
2nd round arrow right To the live ticker: Freiburg – Paderborn arrow right
This means that the East Westphalians have reached the round of 16 of the DFB Cup, while the Freiburg team will probably still need time to digest this disappointing performance and the associated defeat. The goals for Paderborn were scored by Filip Bilbija (4th/56th) and Florent Muslija (33rd). Maximilian Eggestein (69th) scored for the Breisgau team.
“The boys are very disappointed, I’m fine. I’ve been a coach for a few months now,” said Freiburg coach Christian Streich diplomatically. “Paderborn were livelier and faster,” he admitted. Streich continued that his team had paid the price today for the many games of the past few weeks.
“We played as a second division team against a very, very good first division team. But we had the feeling at kick-off that something was going to happen today,” said Paderborn coach Lukas Kwasniok. “What the team did in the first 60 minutes was ala à la bonne heure. I think all in all we didn’t advance undeservedly.”
Early Paderborn tour
Paderborn needed almost no time to get used to it and immediately put Freiburg under pressure. That should pay off. The East Westphalia team took the lead in the fourth minute. After a nice combination over several stations, Bilbija converted from close range to make it 0-1.
Coach Christian Streich’s team seemed strangely unsettled for almost the entire game and made a major mistake shortly after falling behind. SCF goalkeeper Florian Müller played an imprecise pass that Adriano Grimaldi was able to intercept, but stumbled shortly before the shot on goal. The spectators in the Freiburg stadium could hardly have believed their eyes.
Second setback for Freiburg
It took until the 25th minute for the hosts to threaten the opposing goal for the first time. Michael Gregoritsch’s shot from eleven meters came too centrally at the Paderborn goal, so goalkeeper Pelle Boevink was able to parry. It was indicative of Freiburg’s performance that evening.
Some visitors may have hoped from this point on that Freiburg would also be fully involved in the game. But far from it. Just eight minutes later, Muslija increased the score to 2-0 for the SCP with a direct and impressive free kick from 18 meters – and thus dealt the Freiburg team their second bitter setback.
A little hope
Even after the break, Freiburg continued to seem strangely inhibited. There was no sign of a consistent race to catch up, on the contrary. The Paderborn team take advantage of the opponent’s continued drowsiness. Bilbija completed a counterattack against the poorly positioned SCF defense to make it 0-3 – and thus achieved the preliminary decision.
Only then could the SCF gradually free itself from its lethargy and increase the pressure. And Eggestein’s goal around 34 minutes before the end gave a little hope. But the SCF hardly created any more chances to score and failed because of themselves. In the end, the Paderborn team deservedly prevailed.
