Derry Scherhant supplied an emphatic response to his first senior German national team call-up on Saturday, delivering a Man of the Match performance in SC Freiburg’s 2-2 draw away at Eintracht Frankfurt. The Freiburg attacker finished the afternoon with one goal and one assist, struck the post from a direct free kick and repeatedly threatened a Frankfurt defense that struggled to contain him on the left.
Scherhant ultimately departed for Vincenzo Grifo in the 71st minute having played a central role in virtually all of Freiburg’s best attacking work. The performance came only days after Scherhant joined Max Rosenfelder, Philipp Treu and Yannik Engelhardt among four Freiburg players receiving their first senior Germany call-ups. Scherhant admitted afterwards that the nomination provided him with an additional motivational boost.
Scherhant drives Freiburg attack in Frankfurt
Freiburg controlled lengthy stretches of the opening half at Deutsche Bank Park, but found themselves behind after Younes Ebnoutalib converted Frankfurt’s first serious attacking move in the tenth minute. Scherhant had already signaled his intentions by then. He took Freiburg’s first attacking free kick and tested the Frankfurt defense with an early effort from the edge of the area.
The equalizer arrived in the 34th minute. Igor Matanović helped Freiburg establish possession around halfway before Yannik Engelhardt shifted the ball left toward Jordy Makengo. Elias Baum stepped forward from the Frankfurt back line, creating space in the left half-space for Makengo to release Scherhant.
Scherhant drove into the penalty area, shifted the ball onto his right foot and fired low toward the far corner. Scherhant’s former Freiburg teammate and fellow German national team call-up Noah Atubolu got a hand to the effort but could not prevent the ball from crossing the line.
Frankfurt restored their lead only two minutes later through Jonathan Burkardt, yet Scherhant continued to pose Freiburg’s greatest threat. Shortly before halftime, the former Hertha BSC attacker stepped up to take a direct free kick from approximately 20 meters. His powerful effort forced Atubolu into a fingertip save onto the post.
Scherhant required only three minutes following the restart to influence the scoresheet again. Makengo once more released him down Freiburg’s left. This time, Scherhant resisted the opportunity to attack goal himself and instead delivered a measured cross toward the far post, where Yuito Suzuki arrived to convert the deserved 2-2 equalizer.
One of Germany’s 11 new call-ups nearly completed the turnaround seven minutes later. Scherhant drove into the left side of the penalty area and fired powerfully toward the near corner, narrowly finding the side netting. Oscar Højlund then earned a yellow card for stopping Scherhant as the Freiburg attacker advanced toward the Frankfurt box.
Scherhant’s Freiburg rise continues
Saturday’s display furnished another significant marker in Scherhant’s development at Freiburg. The former Hertha academy product initially arrived in Breisgau as an inexpensive developmental signing and spent much of his early Freiburg career competing for minutes behind club legend Vincenzo Grifo. His growing positional versatility and increasingly consistent performances have since pushed him considerably higher in Julian Schuster’s hierarchy.
Schuster named the same starting XI for his fourth consecutive Bundesliga match in Frankfurt. Scherhant’s performance justified the continuity. Scherhant has now effectively pushed Grifo to the bench, starting in six of Freiburg’s seven competitive fixtures thus far this season. Given the sort of status Grifo maintains with the Shwarzwaldverein, this counts as quite the development.
Derry Scherhant on his Germany call-up
“I’ve been very happy ever since the call up,” Scherhant told Sky Germany. “I still can’t quite believe it and it definitely gave me an extra push today. Yeah, he [Klopp] contacted me personally. First he sent over a message saying ‘Hi, this is Jürgen Klopp. In the event you have some time and interest, you can give me a call back.’ I called him back immediately.”
“I’ve known about Jürgen Klopp ever since childhood when he coached Mainz and Dortmund,” Scherhant continued. “Thanks to the respect I have for him, I was even happier that he called and opted to take me along.”
