Freiburg dancing at three weddings

The season still has a long way to go but SC Freiburg have already made history, with the current campaign set to go down in the club’s history. That is largely down to the fact that – in addition to a strong season in the Bundesliga and qualification for the DFB-Pokal quarter-finals – Freiburg have reached a European round of 16 tie for the first time ever. Freiburg were away to top Italian club Juventus last Thursday and, despite losing the first leg by a 1-0 scoreline, can still harbour hopes of reaching the quarter-finals.

Christian Streich’s team are still dancing at three weddings at present, with things going well in the other competitions too: the team have reached the cup quarter-finals this season, having made the final for the first time last term, while Freiburg currently occupy fifth spot in the league and are level on points with fourth-placed Leipzig.

Vincenzo Grifo is playing a big part in the current success. The former Hoffenheim man is having an outstanding season and has already racked up 12 league goals in 22 appearances – the first time the Italy international has ever reached a double-digit goal tally in one season in his career. Largely thanks to Grifo, Freiburg are the most dangerous team in the division from set-pieces, having already found the net 18 times from dead-balls. They have also kept a clean sheet in 10 matches – another league high.

And yet TSG can feel confident ahead of their 500th Bundesliga game. “Our goal now against Freiburg is to deliver a performance which will put us in a position to pick up three points,” said Pellegrino Matarazzo. The fact that points are up for grabs against Freiburg was evident from the reverse fixture, when the teams drew 0-0 in Sinsheim and TSG almost won.