Freiburg fall to unlucky 3-1 defeat in Leipzig

Noah Atubolu was called into action early on, but Benjamin Sesko’s header was no problem for Freiburg’s number one (4’). Merlin Röhl was almost through on goal at the other end of the pitch a minute later, but the ball forward was just a bit too ambitious.

Freiburg’s coaching staff stuck with the same XI that ran out as 5-0 winners in our victory over FK TSC Backa Topola in the Europa League. Yannik Keitel (groin issues) and Lukas Kübler (broken toe) missed the game. Leipzig also faced off against a Serbian side this week, defeating Crvena zvezda 2-1 in the Champions League.

Xavi Simons put Leipzig 1-0 up after eight minutes in their midweek fixture, but he only needed six minutes to open the scoring against SCF. After Freiburg lost the ball in their own half, the Dutch superstar, who is on loan at RBL from French side Paris Saint-Germain, curled the ball into the back of the net from about 20 yards out. A Leipzig player had been offside in an earlier passage of play, but the referee didn’t take it into account.

Leipzig threaten with shots from distance

Despite falling behind early on, Freiburg started well. The hosts found it difficult to breach SCF’s defences, as they alternated between a three-man and a five-man backline. Marco Rose’s side looked to score from distance as a result and went close in doing so. Efforts from Emil Forsberg (17’) and Lois Openda (23’) went just wide of the Freiburg goal. Sesko was also centimetres away from extending the hosts’ lead after his powerful header went just past the post (18’).

Freiburg didn’t have many chances, as there were opportunities to hit Leipzig on the counter, but the final ball was never good enough to take advantage of the space in behind. SCF had the ball in the back of the net in the 35th minute, but the celebrations were short-lived; Janis Blaswich parried Maximilian Eggestein’s long-range shot into the path of Kiliann Sildillia and the Frenchman scored, but was clearly offside.

Röhl equalises in spectacular fashion

“We didn’t use the ball very well for 25 minutes,” summarised Christian Streich after the game. “They deserved to be 1-0 up. But then, we were much better and Merlin scored a great goal.”

The 41,000 spectators in the stadium had accepted the scoreline heading into the break, but that wasn’t the case for Merlin Röhl. The young midfielder picked up the ball in his own half and jinked his way past three RBL defenders and towards Janis Blaswich’s goal. The run, followed by his inch-perfect finish, is sure to feature in all of Freiburg’s yearly highlight videos and ensured that things would be all-square at half time.

SCF didn’t make any changes during the break, but started the second 45 brightly. They scored another goal that would eventually be chalked off in the 53rd minute. Noah Weißhaupt was standing in an offside position when Vincenzo Grifo played him through. He squared the ball to Höler, whose celebrations were cut short by the linesman raising his flag.

It was a more even game in the second half and Freiburg created more chances. Eggestein couldn’t convert a good opportunity into a goal in the 71st minute and Grifo saw his shot go narrowly wide a few minutes later (75’).

Baumgartner makes the difference for RBL

While attempting to win the ball back off Leipzig substitute Christoph Baumgartner, Grifo brought the Austria international down in the Freiburg box. The referee consulted the monitor and pointed to the spot. “Vince has to be more patient there. We go on to lose the game after that,” said Streich with reference to the turning point in the game.

Openda, who had been passive up to that point, coolly converted the penalty to give Leipzig the lead once again (79’). The hosts broke away on the counter a minute later, with Xavi Simons leading the charge. The Netherlands international put the ball on a plate for Baumgartner and Noah Atubolu was powerless to stop his deflected strike (80’).

That’s how the game ended. SCF leave Leipzig empty-handed despite a strong showing and will have to wait until after the international break to put things right. “I’m really disappointed, because the boys gave it their all today. We’ve lost against Leipzig quite a few times, but we could’ve got something today,” said Christian Streich. Freiburg will be back on home soil for their next game, as they clash with SV Darmstadt on 25th November (15:30 CET).

Photo: Susann Friedrich