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Feyenoord
There are days when not much goes right and VfL experienced such a day this Saturday in Freiburg. The home team deservedly won the match 3-0 and above that, Kostas Stafylidis and head coach Thomas Reis have been sent off. Time to forget this day.
Matchday 30 of this Bundesliga campaign and VfL Bochum 1848 are guests to SC Freiburg this Easter Saturday. For the lads from the Castroper Straße, there was a premiere: For the first time, they played at the Europa-Park Stadion, Freiburg’s new home ground, and 34,000 fans were awaiting the sold-out game. Compared to the goalless draw against Bayer 04 Leverkusen last Sunday, head coach Thomas Reis decided to make on change to his staring XI. Eduard Löwen replaced Elvis Rexhbecaj.
Here’s how the game went
1´ The ball is rolling. Come on you guys in blue and white!
2´ Air balloons from the fan choreography are on the pitch. But the players are not disturbed, no interruption necessary.
3´ The home team has the first chance of the game. Petersen finds Eggestein, but Riemann is one the spot.
5´ Freiburg with the early opener. Kübeler with too much space and his shot leaves Riemann chanceless.
6´ Good reaction by Bochum. Löwen with a shot from the distance. Well hit but no problem for the keeper.
8´ We’re still struggling a bit. Leitsch loses the ball carelessly near the box, but gets it back with a strong tackle.
11´ The first decent cross by Asano from the left flank finds Polter in the centre, but his header goes wide.
15´ VfL press high now and Pantović disturbs keeper Flekken who clears the ball in the end.
16´ Chance for Freiburg. Jeong tries his luck, no problem for Riemann.
16´ Freiburg is 2-0 up now, Sallai with the goal. The team from South Germany are clinical in front of goal. Again, the goal comes from our left side. Not a good day so far for our defensive line.
18´ Don’t let it get you down, lads! There’s plenty of time left. Toto looks out for Polter but his cross is deflected for the expense of a corner-kick.
19´ The corner-kick is defended well by Freiburg. Löwen with a good chance after two neat double passes, but he’s stopped at the last moment.
20´ Not a good first 20 minutes here at the Europa-Park Stadion. No good defending by us and a clinical home team. But there’s still hope. Immediately after the two goals, we managed to create decent chances ourselves.
25´ Petersen with a header after a corner-kick – almost the 3-0. We must find into the game as soon as possible, to keep it open.
27´ Löwen plays out two opponents. Neatly played but his cross is too sloppy.
27´ Grifo with a chance from inside the box. This time we’re on the spot to block the ball. Come on!
31´ Freiburg with the next big opportunity. Soares keeps a cool head and wins the ball – as so often this season – a very very important tackle!
36´ Freiburg still have the better chances. Günter brings in the ball sharply, Sallai is lurking at the far post and his header misses its aim by a whisker. Riemann would have had no chance.
38´ Leitsch with a through ball towards Asano, but unfortunately it is a bit too wide.
39´ Petersen in the box but Stafylidis and Soares clear the situation together.
43´ Long ball by Riemann. As we know, he’s always up for an assist. This time though, Polter can’t reach the ball.
45´ Jeong with too much room but luckily his shot goes wide.
45´+2 VfL with the last chance of the first half. Löwen’s free-kick first finds no recipient but Bella-Kotchap reaches the following cross and heads the ball towards the goal – too weak and no problem for the keeper.
Half-time: The home team deservedly leads 2-0. Especially in the opening stages, we didn’t find into the game and made it easy for Freiburg to score. But well, this happens from time to time. We already showed that we are able to come back stronger. The game is not yet decided.
46´ Off we go for the second half. Head coach Thomas Reis decides to make no less than three changes at once. Zoller, Blum and Rexhbecaj replace Asano Pantović and Soares.
51´ Blum finds Rexhbecaj who tries his luck, but his nice shot goes wide. We need more chances like this!
53´ First chance for the home team in the second half and they extend their lead – 3-0. Sallai with a header. Oh dear…
54´ And Sallai with just another chance but Bella-Kotchap stops him at the last moment.
60´ Schlotterbeck with the chance to make it 4-0 but Riemann has it.
64´ Günter with a run over the left flank into the box, Gamboa with a strong tackle.
65´ Thomas Reis makes his last two changes. Locadia and Osterhage hopefully can make an impact. Polter and Löwen leave the pitch.
66´ Locadia with a chance. Dangerous situation but his through ball is blocked by an opponent.
68´ And things become even worse. Stafylidis is shown the red card after a foul against Sallai.
70´ Thomas Reis complains about the red card and referee Stegemann sends him off as well. The manager has to leave the touchline.
71´ Bleibt also bitter. Nur noch zu Zehnt für die Schlussminuten. An der Seitenlinie übernimmt Markus Gellhaus.
77´ Bochum try to create a chance. Bella-Kotchap with a cross into the box but the ball is blocked.
83´ Demirović with the next big chance to extend the lead but his shot goes well over Riemann’s goal.
84´ Höler able to shoot freely but no problem for keeper Riemann.
87´ Corner-kick by Blum directly towards the near post – and it hits the outer net.
90´ Not much going on any more here. The home team controls the game and are saving their energy for the cup game next week. No added time today.
Full-Time: Deserved loss in Freiburg. No big deal. We’ll have the next big chance next Sunday when FC Augsburg are our opponents at the Vonovia Ruhrstadion for our second to last home game of this Bundesliga campaign. The match will be kicked-off at 15:30 CET.
