The visitors took an early lead through Amin Younes (6’), before Roland Sallai netted an equaliser just before the break (32’). Nils Petersen came off the bench and scored to put Freiburg ahead in the 63rd minute, before Keven Schlotterbeck scored an own goal to level the scores once again (75’). SC Freiburg remain in ninth place with 24 points.

“It was great that we were able to deliver such a strong performance against such a strong side, despite all the absences we had. It was a good game, and I’m very happy with the team,” said Christian Streich. “We witnessed a good, intense game between two teams who both wanted to win. Freiburg’s power and momentum turned the game in their favour. In the end, it was a deserved draw,” said Eintracht head coach Adi Hütter.

SCF made several changes in midfield, following the absences of Baptiste Santamaria (knee injury), Nicolas Höfler (yellow-card suspension) and Amir Abrashi (lower leg injury).The team lined up in a 4-4-2 for the first time since matchday 8. Lucas Höler moved into the XI, lining up alongside Ermedin Demirovic in attack.

Janik Haberer also made his first start of the season for SCF, lining up in defensive midfield next to Philipp Lienhart, who moved up from his usual position at centre-back.

Eintracht get off the mark early on

Frankfurt started with a high press, out-numbering SCF in defence and quickly proving why they are such a strong side on the road. Just six minutes in, Amin Younes snuck his way through the defence after a pass from Djibril Sow and calmly slotted home.

SC Freiburg struggled to contain Frankfurt during the opening 15 minutes, but gradually found their way into the game. Roland Sallai equalized for the hosts in the 32nd minute, getting on the end of a pass from Demirovic before chipping it past goalkeeper Kevin Trapp. The two sides contined to trade blows, as both attacked often. Freiburg occasionally felt the absence of their usual defensive midfield pairing, but both Haberer and Lienhart put on a strong performance nonetheless.

Shortly before the break, Frankfurt came close to going ahead. André Silva and Martin Hinteregger both faltered as Florian Müller made two important saves (38’, 39’). Christian Günter has the next best chance of the half, as Trapp had to stretch to keep out the captain’s long-range shot (43’).

SC turn things around 

The half-time break didn’t change the end-to-end nature of the game. As in the first half, it was the visitors who started on the front foot after the restart. Newly-introduced Daichi Kamada had a golden opportunity to re-establish Frankfurt’s lead, but a last-ditch tackle denied him an instant impact (46’). At the other end, Keven Schlotterbeck fired well wide of the target from  a deep free kick (47’). 

Rolland Sallai, who had rolled his ankle, and Lucas Höler were replaced by Wooyeong Jeong and Nils Petersen shortly before the hour mark. And Petersen did just as his did against FC Bayern München on the weekend – entering the match with a bang. After Frankfurt failed to clear from a SCF free kick, Petersen latched on to the ball with a ferocious volley on the turn, which flew in at the far post to give his team the lead (63’).

Own goal denies three points

Eintracht reacted immediately be introducing Luka Jovic, who recently returned on loan from Real Madrid, to their attack.

But rather than the Serbian, it was one of our own players who brought Frankfurt back on level terms. In an attempt to block Kamada’s goal-bound shot, Schlotterbeck cleared the ball off his own leg and watched as the ball trickled unfortunately into the back of his own net to make it 2-2 (75’).

The two sides attacked the final 15 minutes with intensity and hunger to win, but when it came to the final third, the final ball was lacking. Freiburg thought they had won it late on, but substitute Lino Tempelmann’s effort flew narrowly wide of the target (88’). A point on the night, which sees Freiburg end the first half of the season in ninth place on 24 points.

Another home game awaits on Saturday. VfB Stuttgart are the visitors at the Schwarzwald-Stadion on Saturday at 15:30 CET.