It has been a difficult start to the Bundesliga for Christian Streich’s Freiburg. Despite two victories in their first two games, they have fallen to two consecutive defeats – conceding nine goals in the process.
Failing to take advantage of a less than creative Borussia Dortmund side will frustrate the Freiburg head coach in the short term, but the injuries suffered during the clash will certainly leave Streich with multiple problems to solve further down the line. Two of Freiburg’s most dangerous attackers Michael Gregoritsch (calf) and Lucas Höler (thigh) were taken off injured during the bout, while the returning hero Maximilian Philipp felt muscular problems during the warm up.
According to Bild, after the game, Philipp Lienhart made it clear that the shoulder knock picked up prior to Dortmund’s third goal was serious – adding salt to the already severely open wounds. With Freiberg’s European campaign set to start on Thursday as they travel to Athens to face Olympiacos, there is a possibility that they will be without these four crucial players, as well as club captain Christian Günter, who is out with a broken arm.
Streich would summarise after the game: “I don’t have an exact status on any of them yet. Everyone is being treated, so we’ll see more details tomorrow when all the adrenaline is out of the body. But of course it doesn’t help us. It is not easy. There aren’t that many of us in the squad. But we knew that something like this could happen to us. We have to deal with this and take a stand.”
GGFN | Will Shopland
