In the Bundesliga, SC Freiburg won against Bochum – but VfL were quite annoyed afterwards.
On Saturday (October 21st, 2023) the Breisgauer team had the upper hand against Bochum with 2:1 (2:1) in their home stadium. Goncalo Paciencia initially gave VfL the lead with a fantastic direct pass (15th minute). But then the captain laid down Vincenzo Grifo first opened up for Ritsu Doan to equalize (26′) and then scored himself with a hand penalty (45’+2) – Grifo had previously heated up tempers with a nasty foul. After the attack on Christian Gamboa, however, he only saw yellow.
Excitement at VfL Bochum: “It’s a joke”
“It’s a joke, I don’t understand it”said Bochum’s sports director Patrick Fabian to referee Tobias Reichel. VfL coach Thomas Letsch explained: “I wonder if he has to break his foot before he gets red? Someone has to explain that to me.”
With the win, SC Freiburg now has 13 points and is eighth in the table. VfL Bochum is still without a win and is in relegation place 16 (four points).
Bochum’s switching game plan initially works
It was a largely uneventful initial phase. Freiburg was entrusted with the task of organizing the game right from the start. VfL only attacked from the halfway line, and Breisgauer had almost 70 percent of the ball possession in the first half.
However, VfL Bochum initially made more use of their own ball possession phases than SC. Despite their visual superiority, Freiburg rarely had a shot on goal. Bochum, on the other hand, relied on the fast offensive players Christopher Antwi-Adjej and Takuma Asano in transition moments to overrun Freiburg.
This was also achieved after Maximilian Eggestein lost the ball: After the conquest, Asano played a high diagonal pass into the path of Paciencia, whose direct shot hit the goal like a dream. Almost had Paciencia A little later we were able to celebrate again, but Matthias Ginter saved in dire need (18th).
Freiburg turns the game around thanks to driver Grifo
But then Freiburg also got going. Especially thanks to Grifo. The Italian international first put a fine cross onto the head of Doan, who jumped higher than Bochum’s Danilo Soares at the second post – the equalizer. Doan even almost turned the game single-handedly after a wonderful volley from Philipp Lienhart over the VfL defense. But his shot was too unplaced (41′).
And then there was bad luck for Bochum. The ball was shot at Bernardo’s hand from a very short distance in the penalty area, which he already had pretty close to his body. But referee Tobias Reichel pointed to the point – at least a tough decision, but not a clear one. Grifo converted the penalty.
It was quite fortunate that Grifo was still able to compete himself. Because after his exaggerated entry against Gamboa, he could have already been out.
Goalkeeper Atubolu also played a part in the SC victory
Although Freiburg had the first high-quality chance after the restart, Lienhart only narrowly missed Doan’s free kick (53′). Eggestein was also close to Freiburg’s third goal with his finish (55th).
But Bochum now pressed further forward and forced the hosts to make mistakes. VfL’s counter-attack brought danger again, Freiburg offered the Ruhrpottklub far too many spaces: Antwi-Adjej was suddenly through after a perfect through pass, but failed free in front of Freiburg’s goalkeeper Noah Atubolu (58th), who was rewarded for his rescue act by the SC –fans received great applause.
VfL tried to keep the pressure on, but Freiburg survived this period of uncertainty unscathed. Towards the end of the game, Bochum’s goalkeeper Manuel Riemann hit the ball forward more and more often to open the game, but there was no way through. Especially since Freiburg could have used one or two promising attacking situations to make the decision.
Bochum against Mainz, Freiburg against Bayer
VfL Bochum opens the 9th matchday at home against 1. FSV Mainz 05 (Friday, October 27th, 2023, 8:30 p.m.). Freiburg wants to play away against the top team two days later at 5:30 p.m.team Bayer 04 Leverkusen score.