“We want to see the team!” – that was the chant from the group of Freiburg fans, even 15 minutes after the final whistle blew on an incredible performance from the away side. It was the biggest win in SC’s Bundesliga history and head coach Christian Streich was – albeit somewhat surprised – satisfied with the performance his side has shown at Borussia-Park: “The team played an incredible game. Everything just worked so well – every shot was a goal. We took the game a bit more seriously in the second half.”

SC started their second away game in a row with one change from the unlucky 2-1 defeat in Bochum. Ermedin Demirovic came in for Wooyeong Jeong. Following a long injury layoff, Nils Petersen returned to the squad for the first time.

The hosts also endured a bitter defeat last time out, making two changes from their 4-1 defeat in the Rhine derby: Marcus Thuram and Stefan Lainer replaced Patrick Herrmann and the injured Lars Stindl, who was on the bench.

Freiburg fly out of the blocks

The tale of the tape told a clear story ahead of the game: When SC and Gladbach meet, the home side almost always comes out on top – the last 26 meetings have seen no away wins.

Freiburg, in an attempt to break from tradition, put on a first half to remember and took the lead in just the second minute through a wonderful piece of play on the left wing. Kevin Schade and Christian Günter played their way into the box and the former found Maximilian Eggestein, who found the net from close range for SCF’s first goal.

The 154 travelling fans did not have to wait long for their second chance to celebrate. Christian Günter’s cross was finished off precisely by Schade for his first-ever Bundesliga goal.

The away side’s perfect start was not enough for them, as they continued to play attacking football, didn’t give the Foals a chance in the tackles and found the net for the third time in just the 12th minute. Philipp Lienhart’s tap-in from Vincenzo Grifo’s free-kick cross was checked by VAR for offside, but it was given and SCF were three up in the first 15 minutes.

An historic 37 minutes

The home fans in attendance were berating their team’s poor performance with boos from early on. Those boos quickly got louder, as Christian Streich’s side scored a fourth. A corner to the near post was flicked into the far corner by Nicolas Höfler to send everyone of a Freiburg disposition into ecstasy (19’)!

The Foals looked like collapsing at this point, something which Freiburg took full advantage of to score yet again five minutes later. A free kick sent to the back post was nodded back into the middle by Nico Schlotterbeck, with Lucas Höler heading home from Höfler’s flick on from very close range to score the fifth of the opening 25 minutes.

Gladbach head coach Adi Hütter reacted at this point and brought in Breel Embolo and Patrick Herrmann for Alassane Plea and Stefan Lainer, but they did not stop the goals going in. The hosts yet again failed to deal with a set piece, yet again a Freiburg player ended up with the ball – this time Nico Schlotterbeck – and yet again the ball was in Yann Sommer’s net. 6-0 to SC Freiburg after just 37 minutes, and that was the score as the whistle blew for half time.

A calmer second 45

The Foals were seldom seen going forward in the first half; Marc Flekken was called into action on two occasions, to keep out Denis Zakaria and Manu Koné, and although the hosts were more active in the second period, the scoreline did not change. The Freiburg defence stood rock solid and did not let any dangerous situations come to fruition.

Neither side were able to take too much of a risk in the second 45, so its story is short. There were not too many chances for the near-10,000 spectators to enjoy, the best of them was a Lucas Höler volley from long range which skimmed off the roof of the net (72’). The game was largely played in midfield apart from that. SCF managed their task well, deservedly running out 6-0 winners in the end.

The win sees Freiburg stay in fourth position with 25 points from 14 games. Their next task will come next Saturday at 15:30 CET, as they take on TSG Hoffenheim at the Europa-Park Stadion.