The fans didn’t want the team to leave the pitch at the end. The jubilant Freiburg supporters spent a good few minutes celebrating their side’s emotional win alongside the players, who were visibly enjoying the scenes in the away end.

It was clear how much interest there was in SCF’s first visit to the Millerntor-Stadion in almost a decade, not just due to the fact that the 3,000 away tickets had sold out within minutes, but also that many fans had still made the long journey to Hamburg despite not having one.

There were people politely enquiring on the train, at Hamburg station, in front of a hotel in the city centre, and even around the stadium, armed with signs saying that they were looking for a ticket.

A cagey start

To start with, everyone who had the privilege to see the game live was able to see very little. The match was only able to begin once the smoke from the away end had cleared. SC, who made two changes as Merlin Röhl and Patrick Osterhage came in for Eren Dinkci and Nicolas Höfler, put the home side under pressure early on. Head coach Alexander Blessin’s team were not deterred though and hit back with some direct and purposeful balls forward from the defence.

The first big chance of the game therefore didn’t come from a high press, but from a long ball in behind the Kiezkicker’s backline. Ritsu Doan ran through on goal after a well-timed pass from Matthias Ginter, but his shot was straight at Nikola Vasilj (13’).

Over the past few weeks, many other teams have had trouble breaking down St. Pauli’s, who fielded two former Freiburg players in Philipp Treu and loanee Noah Weißhaupt. The Hamburg-based side had conceded just 24 goals before today, the second-fewest in the league, but had only scored 18 themselves. In the first half, it wasn’t hard to see why they have this record. Neither of the two sides conceded many chances, but clearcut opportunities remained in short supply in the match, which was nevertheless played with a lot of quality.

Grifo denied from the spot

The first big moment came in the 45th minute, when referee Benjamin Brand awarded a penalty despite much protest from the home fans. Jackson Irvine had fouled Ritsu Doan after a throw-in from the right. Vincenzo Grifo took on the responsibility, but his panenka was saved by Vasilj, extending Freiburg’s run of missed spot kicks. Shortly after, the whistle blew for half time with the score at 0-0.

Both teams came out for the second half unchanged, and the flow of the match was also unchanged to start with. There was very little being created from open play, a succession of SC corners in the first ten minutes came to nothing, and Grifo’s well-placed free kick from around 20 yards out was superbly saved by Vasilj (57’).

The Freiburg pressure was now beginning to increase. Just over 20 minutes from the end, SCF were looking much more likely to open the scoring than the home side. Merlin Röhl’s long-range strike went over the bar (64’), while Kiliann Sildillia was challenged at the final moment to prevent what would have been a sensational solo goal (67’).

 A late moment to savour

At the sold-out Millerntor-Stadion though, it was looking for all the world like it would end in a draw. It took an inadvertent combination between Christian Günter and ex-Freiburg man Treu to make sure that this wasn’t the case. The St. Pauli defender beat his own goalkeeper when he slid to clear a cross from the SC captain, leading to an explosion of unbridled joy among the travelling supporters, who were able to celebrate even more after the final whistle blew a few minutes later.

“That was a very mature and disciplined performance today against a team who have a lot of quality. The lads perfectly executed the game plan we worked on together. We had to wait for spaces to open up, but we kept going and reacted brilliantly to setbacks. I have to hand it to the team,” said Julian Schuster, who had also taken part in a lap of honour in front of the away fans after the match.

SCF have now recorded three wins in a row for the first time under Schuster. The next chance for similar scenes of jubilation will be on Friday, 21st February, when SV Werder Bremen visit the Europa-Park Stadion, kicking off at 20:30 CET.

Photo: Fabian Bimmer