It’s not often possible to be able count the number of competitive matches that you have played against an opponent on one hand. However, this is still the case against Heidenheim. Until this Saturday afternoon, the two teams had only ever met four times.

The Freiburg coaching staff had been forced into making two changes from the home win against Bochum for their fifth clash with FCH. Merlin Röhl, who suffered a tear in his syndesmosis a week ago, was replaced by former Heidenheim player Eren Dinkci. Max Rosenfelder, on the other hand, had to pull out at short notice with back problems and was replaced by Matthias Ginter. Kiliann Sildillia was also absent with the young Frenchman suffering from muscular problems.

The hosts, on the other hand, had made three changes. Marnon Busch, Mathias Honsak and former SC player Maximilian Breunig came into the side in place of Adrian Beck, Jan Schöppner and Leonardo Scienza. Jonas Föhrenbach and Marvin Pieringer, the other two Heidenheim players who had previously been at Freiburg, were also handed a spot in the starting line-up.

No goals despite a concentrated performance

As was expected beforehand, the majority of possession belonged to the visitors from kick-off. The home side’s head coach Frank Schmidt celebrated his 17th anniversary at the helm during the week. His team initially restricted their focus to attempting to close down Freiburg’s passing lanes. Meanwhile, SC remained wary of Heidenheim’s counter-attacking capabilities, only taking risks in a very controlled manner which led to a few half-chances and two corners in the opening quarter of an hour.

The first attack on the hosts’ goal came after 18 minutes when Vincenzo Grifo sent his forward player Eren Dinkci into the danger area with a precise pass but his shot was blocked from a few yards out. Action also started to ramp up at the other end shortly afterwards. Mathias Honsak missed Noah Atubolu’s goal by a mere few inches with a well-placed shot from the edge of the area (20’).

Although the first half did not offer much in terms of goalmouth action, the travelling Freiburg fans would most likely have been satisfied with their team’s display after 45 minutes. SC had more of the ball, looked to mix up their approach play and hardly gave away anything in defence. The only criticism of the away side would have been that the pass into the final third lacked the necessary accuracy and sharpness far too often.

There was a worrying moment in the 40th minute when Lukas Kübler and Marvin Pieringer forcefully clashed heads following a Freiburg corner, but both were able to continue the game after several minutes of treatment. It was the last action of note before referee Benjamin Brand blew his whistle for half-time.

From 0-0 to 3-0

What the first half had lacked, the second half made up for in abundance. Shortly after the restart, Dinkci had a great opportunity to make it 1-0. After Kübler’s through ball, the attacker found himself free on the right side of the box, faced with only Kevin Müller, but his low shot from eleven yards out could only find the side-netting (49’).

However, it was not long before the increased SC pressure brought the lead. After cutting in from the right wing, Ritsu Doan moved into a central and released an unsaveable shot from the edge of the penalty area. The ball ricocheted off the far post and into the net (54’).

Inspired by the opening goal, SC continued to set the tone. Their committed performance was rewarded for a second time just four minutes later. Although, after his strong solo charge into the 18-yard-box, Junior Adamu was apprehended by a Heidenheim defender’s leg, Vincenzo Grifo then converted the rebound with a well-considered low shot from ten yards (59’). “Getting that second goal soon after the first was really important and I am proud of the team for managing that,” said Julian Schuster, praising his team’s response after taking the lead.

After Freiburg’s quick-fire double there were two responses. Firstly, Frank Schmidt opted for a triple substitution with half an hour to go. However, Grifo then provided the deciding goal with his second of the day. Vice-captain Günter, Adamu and recent substitute Lucas Höler all combined in the opponent’s penalty area to set up the German-Italian, whose low shot beat Müller again in the hosts’ goal (65’).

The away fans had already been in full voice beforehand, but now had even more reason to celebrate after three goals within eleven minutes. They watched their side not only maintain the pressure on the Heidenheim defence but also keep their opponents away from goal even after going 3-0 up.

A Bundesliga debut and a clean sheet

Ten minutes before the end of the game, the Freiburg coaching staff used their last substitution window to hand 18-year-old Johan Manzambi his Bundesliga debut. Florent Muslija, Jordy Makengo and Noah Weißhaupt also came on at this point, all with clear intent to give a good account of themselves and fit seamlessly into the Freiburg system.

However, the game was all but decided at the time of their introduction. Although FCH did not give up at any point, they were unable to really threaten in front of goal. As a result, the visitors were able to celebrate their third win in four games this season so far and enjoy a great reception from the fans. “We’ve had an intense week. Preparation for a game in Heidenheim takes a lot of hard work. I think the boys did their job well from the very first minute,” said a satisfied Julian Schuster after the match.

The next challenge comes in the form of newly-promoted St. Pauli, who visit the Europa-Park Stadion for the next league fixture on Saturday 28th September (kick-off 15:30 CEST).

Photo: Achim Keller