SC Freiburg – 1. FC Cologne 2:1 (2:1)
At the end of the 19th matchday, SC Freiburg won 2-1 against 1. FC Köln. Thanks to goalscorer Igor Matanović, Freiburg remain within reach of the European Cup places. Matanović scored the winning goal in the 44th minute, but he also missed a hand penalty 25 minutes before the end of the game.
SC defender Max Rosenfelder initially gave Cologne the lead in the tenth minute with an own goal. Derry Scherhant scored just a minute later to give Freiburg a quick equalizer. Matanović’s goal to make it 2-1 shortly before half-time was ultimately decisive.
With the defeat, 1. FC Köln missed the step out of the relegation zone. Thanks to Mainz’s victory, coach Lukas Kwasniok’s team is only five points ahead of the relegation place. After their first win after eight games without a win, Cologne’s upward trend ended abruptly in Freiburg. There is traditionally little to gain for Rhinelanders in Breisgau; There was only one win in the last 19 guest games at SC.
SC coach Julian Schuster said before the game that they had been “warned” after the 4-1 defeat in the first leg. “We still have something to make up for,” said attacker Matanović. The Breisgauers did that too.
Freiburg is currently five points behind sixth place in the table, which entitles it to take part in the play-offs for the Conference League.
Borussia Mönchengladbach – VfB Stuttgart 0:3 (0:1)
The VfB Stuttgart won 3-0 (1-0) at Borussia Mönchengladbach. This is the 17th time that Stuttgart have won against Gladbach – more often than any other Bundesliga club. Jamie Leweling (30th minute), an own goal from Joe Scally (67th) and substitute Deniz Undav (74th) scored the goals for coach Sebastian Hoeneß’s team, which dominated the game confidently, especially in the second half.
Leweling had previously caused a hand penalty against the Borussia team, who were initially more committed. However, VfB keeper Alexander Nübel (12th) parried Gladbach’s striker Haris Tabaković’s attempt. After ten points from four Bundesliga games in January, Stuttgart are in a Champions League place.
Borussia, without a win in three games, is in eleventh place. They were initially better in the game against Stuttgart, but were unable to make decisive use of that in the final third of the attack. Leweling took the first chance of the game to give the guests the lead. Scally left the ball to the VfB attacker in an unfortunate move. The lead gave the individually much stronger guests more security, while Gladbach became increasingly weaker.
VfB’s superiority quickly became clear after the break. Chris Führich and Undavwho had been rotated out of the starting eleven after the 2-0 defeat in the Europa League at AS Roma, came onto the field and provided even more offensive strength and, above all, the decision.
It was Führich who kicked the corner in front of the goal a few minutes after his substitution, where Scally scored the own goal. The ball bounced off the US professional’s back into the far corner of the Gladbach goal. With an attack initiated by one of many offensively won balls, Undav made it 3-0 and thus the decision. It was also Undav who put VfB’s self-confidence into words: “When Gladbach missed the penalty, it was already clear that we would win.”
Also read Saturday’s match report and Friday’s match report.
