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Almost two years have passed since Freiburg last played a Bundesliga match on a Saturday evening. Back then, they recorded a 4-3 victory against TSG Hoffenheim, but this time around it was a goalless affair away in Cologne.
The 50,000 spectators at the sold-out RheinEnergieStadion saw a lively start from the home side, who were in search of three points in their fight against relegation. “Köln came into the game under a lot of pressure due to their league position,” Christian Streich acknowledged. After three minutes, Max Finkgräfe broke through on the left and found Faride Alidou, but he put his effort wide of Noah Atubolu’s goal.
Freiburg’s coaching staff had some problems to solve leading up to the game due to a number of injuries as well as the unavailability of Kiliann Sildillia and Chicco Höfler due to suspension. Lucas Höler played alongside Vincenzo Grifo and Maximilian Eggestein in midfield, while Yannik Keitel formed a three-man defence between Lukas Kübler and Manuel Gulde.
Former Freiburg man Luca Waldschmidt was named in attacking midfield for the home side and won a corner on around 17 minutes, resulting in the next good chance for Timo Schultz’s side. The corner was initially cleared but fell to Jan Thielmann, whose shot was deflected goalwards by Eric Martel, forcing Atubolu into a save.
Grifo goes close with header
After around 20 minutes, Freiburg had their first real chances of the game. First, Grifo saw a header go narrowly wide after a Lukas Kübler cross (20’), before Roland Sallai, partnering Michael Gregoritsch in attack, missed from around 18 meters out a minute later.
Freiburg were able to find space in the Köln defence when playing quickly and directly, but the wet pitch and heavy rain didn’t allow for much opportunity to do so. The home side had more possession in the first half but did not do much with the ball in the final third, and the two sides went into the break with the scores at 0-0.
Just two minutes into the second half, Gregoritsch looked to play in Sallai, but his strike partner was unable to take in the pass in a promising position.
Keitel clears in the nick of time
However, Köln remained the more dangerous side at the start of the second half. On the hour mark, the home side had recorded five corners to SCF’s one. Despite this, the most important statistic still read 0-0.
It was partly thanks to Yannik Keitel that this was the case. On 64 minutes Köln’s Martel found himself in a promising position, delivering a cross across the face of goal from the right-hand side of the box, but Keitel was there first to clear the danger ahead of an opposition attacker.
At the other end, Doan couldn’t turn in a header after a cross from Sallai (65’), while Höler’s effort also came to nothing two minutes later. In the 71st minute, Atubolu made a brilliant save to deny Alidou from point-blank range and keep the scores level. Twelve minutes later, the goalkeeper was on hand again to deny the Köln attacker, this time parrying a powerful shot from the edge of the area.
In stoppage time, the home side gave it everything, sending goalkeeper Schwäbe forward for a free-kick from the halfway line, but it came to nothing and the match ended in a goalless draw. “We couldn’t find the solutions on the pitch and we didn’t play well enough to deserve a win,” said Christian Streich after full time. The result sees Freiburg remain in 7th place ahead of their final home game of the season next week, when they take on 1. FC Heidenheim next Saturday at 15:30 CEST.
Photo: DeFodi Images
