The first of Sunday afternoon Bundesliga fixtures saw Stuttgart host Freiburg, and promised to be an intriguing encounter with both of this season’s Europa League German representatives meeting in Baden-Württemberg. Both hold aspirations of returning to European competition next season.
Sitting in fifth place coming into the afternoon, the home side knew they would return to the Champions League places with a draw or a win. While Freiburg would stay in 7th regardless of the result, but they could close the gap to Leverkusen to five points with a win against their regional rivals.
After Die Schwaben made wholesale changes for their final Europa League league-phasefixture against Young Boys on Thursday, Sebastian Hoeneß made two changes in forward areas to their last Bundesliga fixture away to Borussia Mönchengladbach, with Bilal El Khannouss and Deniz Undav returning to the line-up. Meanwhile, Julian Schuster also made two changes of his own, with the injured Lukas Kübler and Patrick Osterhage making way for Jordy Makengo and Johan Manzambi.
Any suggestion that the away side would settle for a point at last season’s Pokal winners was put to bed immediately as Freiburg began the game strongly. They could even have taken the lead with just three minutes on the clock through Yuito Suzuki, the Japanese’s effort narrowly flew over Alexander Nübel’s goal.
Stuttgart could consider themselves a little hard done by 20 minutes in when El Khannouss’ cross looked to strike the arm of Freiburg defender Max Rosenfelder, though the home side’s claims for a penalty were turned away by the referee. Angelo Stiller whipped in the resulting corner, which was met brilliantly by Josha Vagnoman, forcing an excellent save from Noah Atubolu.
Hoeneß’s team then enjoyed a 15-minute spell with a plethora of chances to take the lead. Deniz Undav was first denied via a goal-line clearance from Matthias Ginter. The German striker then failed to make Freiburg pay for a mix-up in the backline. Unchallenged, he sent his effort wide of the post from just inside the box. Noah Atubolu then saved brilliantly from midfielder Nikolas Nartey’s point-blank header.
Before the end of a frantic first half, which for the most part was dominated by the hosts, Derry Scherhant squandered a fantastic opportunity for Freiburg to take the lead against the run of play. Some fine hold-up play from Igor Matanović set Scherhant through, his effortultimately landing just the wrong side of the post.
The end-to-end nature of the game continued as the second half began. Stuttgart were denied yet again by Atubolu, saving well from El Khannouss’ close-range effort. Freiburg then went close as Ginter’s headed effort landed on the roof of the net.
The second half continued with very little to separate the two teams and a lack of clear-cut chances, in contrast to the first half. Chris Führich provided some much-needed impetus for Stuttgart, constantly causing the Freiburg backline all sorts of problems.
With just under two minutes to go, Stuttgart finally found the breakthrough. Deniz Undav held the ball up well before picking out Ermedin Demirović on the edge of the box. The ball sat up perfectly for the German to send a wonderful looping effort into the top corner of Atubolu’s goal.
Freiburg weren’t done just yet, though and came agonisingly close to an immediate equaliser through Bruno Ogbus, were it not for an excellent save from Alexander Nübel, then they would have had the equaliser.
Stuttgart would see out the win, which sees them climb back into fourth, three points behind Hoffenheim in third.
A remarkable game of football that was more than worthy of Demirović’s excellent winner. Freiburg defended resolutely throughout the game and are a little unlucky not to come away with a point at least in this one.
Stuttgart 1–0 Freiburg | Player Ratings
Stuttgart:
Alexander Nübel (7), Josha Vagnoman (6), Finn Jeltsch (6), Jeff Chabot (6), Ramon Hendriks (6), Atakan Karazor (6), Angelo Stiller (6), Bilal El Khannouss (7), Nikolas Nartey (6), Jamie Leweling (6), Deniz Undav (5)
Others: Chris Führich (7), Maximilian Mittelstädt (6), Ermedin Demirović (7), ChemaAndrés (-), Luca Jaquez (-)
Freiburg:
Noah Atubolu (7), Philipp Treu (6), Matthias Ginter (6), Max Rosenfelder (6), Jordy Makengo (5), Maximilian Eggestein (6), Johan Manzambi (5), Jan-Niklas Beste (6), Yuito Suzuki (6), Derry Scherhant (5), Igor Matanović (5)
Others: Patrick Osterhage (6), Cyriaque Irié (6), Vincenzo Grifo (-), Lucas Höler (-), Bruno Ogbus (-)
GGFN Man of the Match: Noah Atubolu (7)
A terribly frustrating end to the game for Freiburg, who defended superbly on the whole, backed up by Atubolu, who made save after save throughout the game. Had it not been for Ermedin Demirović, Freiburg would have had Atubolu to thank for making sure they made the journey back to the deep southwest with a point in the bag.
GGFN | Harry Good
