SC made two changes to play Frankfurt, who drew 1-1 at home to FC Barcelona in the quarterfinals of the Europa League on Thursday night. Lukas Kübler replaced Jonathan Schmid in the defence and Ermedin Demirovic was handed a start up front. The match was interrupted after just two minutes after two individuals ran onto the pitch and tied themselves onto the goalposts. The Frankfurt team doctor cut the cable ties and the two men were subsequently escorted from the pitch.

Following this interruption, a high-intensity game of football got underway. The home team looked to get the ball forward quickly and attacked more than Freiburg early on. They had the first chance of the afternoon after 10 minutes, Rafael Borré struck his effort wide from inside the box. SC looked to sit back and remain patient, rarely getting into the final third in the first quarter of an hour. “It’s tough to play in Frankfurt, even when they’ve played Barcelona a few days before. I’m really happy with the win, although a few things weren’t so good. We had a fantastic counter-attack and then got the goal,” said Christian Streich on the first 45 minutes.

Quick counter, opening goal

Eintracht had two good chances inside two minutes, through Jens Petter Hauge (15’) and Ansgar Knauff (16’), but Mark Flekken saved both low shots. SC’s first notable attack came in the 22nd minute. Vincenzo Grifo played a through ball to Christian Günter, who put in a cross from the by-line. That was defended well to deny Demirovic a clear effort on goal.

A promising move with two chances for Frankfurt suddenly resulted in a dangerous break for SC, which was perfectly constructed. Roland Sallai provided the assist for Grifo, who slotted past Kevin Trapp to make it 1-0 (27’). This goal gave Freiburg a boost and saw them actually start attacking more and more. Demirovic worked his socks off and kept forcing the Eagles into sloppy passes. He and Sallai both had two shots from range, both missing the target (35’). The final opportunity of the first half was for Frankfurt’s Martin Hinteregger. His volley was blocked by Philipp Lienhart’s back.

Another counter results in the equaliser

There was little to split the two teams at the start of the second half, though that soon changed, albeit only temporarily. Jesper Lindström had found the back of the net for Eintracht, however it was chalked off for offside (52’). That served as a warning of what was to come for SC. Filip Kostic, this time onside, did equalise, finishing off a deadly counter-attack similar to the one that Freiburg scored from in the first half (54’). Oliver Glasner’s team now really put their foot on the gas in search of a second goal. Kostic (57’) and Borré (58’) both threatened in a period where Frankfurt were the better and more aggressive team. Lindström then narrowly missed the goal from the edge of the box (66’).

A clinical finish and a bit of luck

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Nils Petersen was there to make it 2-1. The substitute took his first chance after being on the pitch for seven minutes, heading in from a Günter free-kick to regain the lead (69’). “He came on and got the goal. That’s what we worked on during the week,” commented Streich. Whilst Frankfurt failed to take their chances, SC were totally clinical on the day. Freiburg’s second shot in the second half – by Wooyeong Jeong (who came on together with Petersen) – came almost 80 minutes into the game.

Eintracht continued to push for another equaliser in the closing stages. Firstly, SC were fortunate when Ajdin Hrustic’s fine strike struck the inside of the post and bounced back out (85’). That was then followed by another disallowed goal a minute later. Daichi Kamada had headed past Mark Flekken, but VAR ruled it out for offside to deny Eintracht a point.

SC held on during the five additional minutes to seal all three points. “Frankfurt did really well in the second half. I was really impressed by the power they brought to the pitch. We certainly rode our luck today, we weren’t the better team,” admitted Streich after the final whistle.

Photo: Achim Keller