Baden duel without a winner
©IMAGO
Under their new coach Christian Ilzer, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim achieved at least partial success in the Baden duel in the Bundesliga. At the end of the 13th matchday, the Kraichgauer team drew 1-1 (0-0) against SC Freiburg. In front of 22,027 spectators in the Sinsheim stadium, Matthias Ginter (68th minute) gave Breisgauer the lead. Tom Bischof equalized for the struggling Hoffenheim team (73′).
The TSG at least gained some self-confidence before the Europa League game against FCSB on Thursday. Ilzer had celebrated a furious debut with the 4:3 win against RB Leipzig. The Austrian then suffered three defeats with his new club in three different competitions without scoring – at Sporting Braga, at FSV Mainz 05 and at VfL Wolfsburg.
After conceding a few goals in the early stages, TSG started rather cautiously. That almost went wrong after 18 minutes when a header from Michael Gregoritsch went just wide of Oliver Baumann’s goal. The national goalkeeper was under special observation after his mistakes in Braga and Wolfsburg. However, the 34-year-old made no mistakes against his former club and also overtook Bayern legend Sepp Maier with his 474th Bundesliga appearance. In the 27th home game in a row, Hoffenheim conceded at least one goal.
Against the slightly dominant Freiburg team, the home side almost took the lead after 32 minutes: Jacob Bruun Larsen headed the ball with perfect timing, SC goalkeeper Noah Atubolu just saved the ball. After that, TSG applied more pressure and had more chances. On the other side, Maximilian Eggestein almost made it 1-0.
Suddenly there was momentum in what had previously been a rather dull game. Andrej Kramaric put the ball just past the Freiburg goal shortly after the break. Shortly afterwards, a shot from Lucas Höler landed over Baumann’s goal. With Vincenzo Grifo as a joker, the SC tried to strengthen the offensive. The standard specialist made it 1-0 with a free kick – Ginter was there.
Shortly before, Bruun Larsen had a great chance to take the lead, but shot at Atubolu and was extremely annoyed. Top talent Bischof then equalized with a low shot in an attack that he initiated himself. In the final phase, Baumann showed a great feat when he directed Eren Dinkci’s shot over the crossbar.