Relegation, promotion at the first time of asking, an appearance in the DFB-Pokal final, four round-of-16 matches in the Europa League and a total of 312 games in the top flight of German football – as this small selection of milestones from SCF’s history since the club’s last home game on a Saturday evening shows, a lot can change in eleven years. On that day in late March 2014, SCF faced off against 1. FC Nürnberg, eventually winning 3-2. In Julian Schuster and Nicolas Höfler, two members of Freiburg’s team back then are still involved with the club now.

Ahead of the match, the focus was on another Freiburg stalwart who arrived in the city the year after that. With 297 competitive games under his belt for SCF to date, Vincenzo Grifo only needed to play in one more match to overtake Karl-Heinz Schulz in fifth place of the club’s all-time appearance makers. The Italy international would have to wait a little longer for his 298th game, though, as he and the injured Merlin Röhl did not start against Leipzig. Junior Adamu and Eren Dinkci took their places in the starting line-up.

Before the clash, RBL head coach Marco Rose organised a short-term training camp in Salzburg for his team in light of their inconsistent performances over the past few weeks. He also made one change to the side that started in the narrow defeat against an in-form Mainz side, with Kevin Kampl replacing Amadou Haidara.

Tentative start from both sides

While the fans in the stands were already in fine voice before the match at the Europa-Park Stadium, it took a few minutes for the action on the pitch to come to life. It was partly because the visitors were happy to set up compactly at the back and let Freiburg have the ball up to the halfway line.

If there were any threats in the opening stages, they mostly came down SCF’s right wing due to tricky winger Ritsu Doan. As expected, a nice cross from the Japan international led to Freiburg’s first big chance of the game. But the attack ended almost as soon as it started, as Lucas Höler did not connect well enough with his header which landed safely in Peter Gulacsi’s arms (13’).

Gulacsi’s opposite number, Noah Atubolu, would have been happy to see the scoreline still at 0-0 in the middle of the first half. Having not conceded a goal for 510 minutes to that point, the Germany U21 keeper broke Richard Golz’s long-standing record from the 2000/01 season. Atubolu’s goal had not come under much pressure to that point, though, with the opposition only recording two rather unthreatening shots on SCF’s goal in the first half an hour of play.

The game was close-fought and marked by a lack of chances which remained up until the half-time whistle. The two standout moments before the break were Kiliann Sidlillia putting in a last-ditch tackle on Benjamin Sesko to keep the scores level (38’), and Eren Dinkci not bringing the ball under control in a promising position after being picked out with a sumptuous long-range pass (41’).

Goalless second half

The Freiburg coaching staff reacted at the break, bringing Grifo on for his 298th appearance to replace Dinkci on the left wing. Even though they did not threaten the Leipzig goal immediately, SCF started the second half energetically and looked more determined in all areas of the pitch, even managing to get the ball into the opponent’s final third.

On the whole, however, the story remained the same in the second 45. Both defences kept things tight and the teams were unwilling to take on any unnecessary risks. Christian Günter’s shot from range that ballooned over the bar remained the biggest chance of the half for a long time (58’).

Just after the hour mark, both goalkeepers suddenly found themselves under threat in the space of 60 seconds. First, Gulacsi preserved Leipzig’s clean sheet by saving Höler’s placed header. Then, Osterhage made a last-ditch clearance in his own box after a quick RBL counterattack (64’). Shortly after that, Ridle Baku’s effort from range skimmed the bar (72’), and an attempt from Doan went just off target (79’). Nevertheless, both sides went into the closing stages with the scores still level. The game remained hard-fought, and the home fans celebrated every time SCF won a challenge. But still, neither Freiburg nor Leipzig could find a winner before the final whistle.

“I think that one of Leipzig’s strengths is their counterattacking. It means you’ve got to be really disciplined. The boys did that well today, which results in a game like the one we saw. Obviously, we always want to come away with three points. But today, it was so even that we are more than happy with the draw,” summarised Julian Schuster after the end of the game.

The result means that SCF have kept clean sheets in their last six matches—a club record—and sit fifth place in the table, with 41 points after 25 games. Before the upcoming international break, Julian Schuster’s side will face off against fourth-placed Mainz (Saturday, 15:30 CEST).

Photo: Achim Keller