Sinani’s goal is not enough
©IMAGO
Igor Matanovic, of all people, has increased the relegation worries of his former club FC St. Pauli in the Bundesliga. The 22-year-old scored twice in SC Freiburg’s 2-1 (0-1) away win. The Hamburg native was successful in the 65th and 79th minutes and turned the game around perfectly. At halftime, the hosts were still leading in front of 29,546 spectators in the sold-out Millerntor Stadium after a strong first half thanks to Danel Sinani’s goal (24th).
Due to the defeat, Hamburg missed out on leaving 16th place in the relegation relegation zone and increasing the gap to the direct relegation places. The Europa League quarter-finalists from Freiburg can still hope for renewed European Cup qualification after only their third away win.
More than 1,000 St. Pauli fans cheered as they welcomed the team bus at the entrance to the Millerntor Stadium with pyrotechnics and fireworks to prepare for the relegation battle. And the action of the neighborhood club’s supporters did not fail to have an impact. After a short testing phase, Hamburg put pressure on the once again sold-out Millerntor Stadium, combining impressively at times and creating a number of chances before the break.
Mathias Rasmussen (6th/22nd) and Joel Chima Fujita (18th) still had the best opportunities. Fujita was also stopped at the last moment before the corner that led to Sinani’s lead (24′).
Although Hamburg’s lead at the break was well deserved, Freiburg were by no means hiding. Despite the stress after the 5-1 win against Genk in the second leg of the round of 16 of the Europa League and the move into the round of the last eight, coach Julian Schuster sent the same starting eleven onto the field as on Thursday.
At first there was little sign of fatigue. Niklas Beste (3rd) and Freiburg’s new record goalscorer Vincenzo Grifo (19th) could have put the guests in the lead early on in his 300th Bundesliga game. Beste missed from a promising position, Grifo was denied by St. Pauli goalkeeper Nikola Vasilj. Shortly before the break, Yuito Suzuki was blocked at the last moment in front of the St. Pauli goal after a pass from Matthias Ginter.
Freiburg’s coach Schuster reacted and brought on Cyriaque Irié for Beste and Philipp Lienhart for Bruno Ogbus after the break. The guests’ game became more fluid and the pressure on the hosts increased. Kiez keeper Vasilj became more and more the focus. Matanovic (52nd) initially failed because of the Bosnian, as did Ginter (53rd) after a corner. Grifo’s shot (55th) was ultimately too harmless to beat Vasilj.
Just when Hamburg seemed to be freeing itself from the pressure from Freiburg, the equalizer fell. Matanovic directed a shot from Grifo into the St. Pauli goal, unstoppable for Vasilj. A little later, another Freiburg goal by Irié was disallowed after a VAR decision (74th). But five minutes later, Matanovic made everything clear for the guests with his second goal.
