“We should have won the game with the chances we had, but I don’t want to blame the team, they left it all out on the pitch,” Christian Streich gave his thoughts after full time, first praising his own team and then the hosts: “The team was very, very disciplined and smart, playing at this wonderful stadium with a spectacular crowd.”  

A changed side to enter the fiery cauldron 

A lack of available personnel at centre-back forced the coaching staff into further changes. Manuel Gulde went off injured with a knock against Dortmund, but he made it back in time for this game, starting next to Lukas Kübler and, rather surprisingly, Yannik Keitel in a back three. Vincenzo Grifo and Michael Gregoritsch, who both played against BVB, were replaced by Merlin Röhl and Ritsu Doan in the starting line-up. 

The Stade Bollaert-Delelis, home to RC Lens, has a higher capacity than the population of the northern French town itself. However, the stadium, which hosted games at the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is nearly always sold out, and is famous in France for its atmosphere. SCF were able to get a first taste for this half an hour before kick off, when the teams went out for their warm-ups, as the Lens support frenetically cheered on their side.  

Sallai hits the woodwork 

The 2,000-strong travelling Freiburg support were also able to contribute to the noise levels at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis, and they saw their side make a positive and physical start to the fixture. The away side were willing to cover lots of ground, which saw them winning back possession, closing gaps and launching counterattacks on several occasions in the opening proceedings. They would go on to create the first proper chance of the game. After winning a challenge on the edge of the Lens box, Maxi Eggestein played the ball through to Roland Sallai, whose shot from a tight angle struck the top of the right post (19’). The Hungarian tried again ten minutes later, as a promising header from eight yards out went a lot wider of the target. 

By the midpoint of the first half, the hosts had recorded almost 60% possession without converting this into any real opportunities. Lens’ best chance by this point had been blocked superbly by a strong sliding challenge by makeshift centre-back Keitel (23’), who rightfully received praise from his keeper immediately afterwards. 

SC stayed true to their defensive line, picking their moments to launch an attack and focusing on the stability of their defence, looking to break directly after winning the ball back from their hosts. It was a tactic which would result in SCF having several – although for the most part, not threatening – shots on goal. An impressive and eventful first half remained goalless come half time. 

Offside decision saves SCF 

The second half began with another good chance for Roland Sallai, who, after some nice play from Ritsu Doan, shot from the right-hand side of the box and forced a good save from keeper Brice Samba which went out for a corner (48’). Freiburg were really applying the pressure and were creating several good chances on the counter, which were just not played out well enough when it came to the final pass.  

When Maximilian Eggestein had a golden opportunity to make it 1-0 from close range, no one would have argued that Freiburg didn’t deserve the lead. However, a Lens leg blocked the certain goal-bound effort on the line. The hosts, who finished third in Group B of this season’s Champions League, didn’t produce much during this stage of the match. 

It was only 20 minutes before the final whistle that the home side became more threatening – and, for a moment, even went in front. After an attempt resulting from a short corner forced Noah Atubolu into a strong reaction save from Haidara, the keeper couldn’t do anything about the Malian’s second effort (70’), but VAR would intervene and chalk off the goal due to a Lens player being offside in the build-up. 

A lucky moment for SCF, who were now having to pay the price for their fast-paced strategy and who, in particularly at Lens’ set-pieces, weren’t always looking awake. This turned the final stage of the game into a defensive slog, which SCF survived thanks to some passionate defending, leaving them in a good position ahead of the second leg at the Europa-Park Stadion. 

Photo: Achim Keller