The remarkable 1. FC Heidenheim winters in the Bundesliga with a big cushion in the fight against relegation. In a turbulent game, the promoted team fought back to win 3:2 (0:1) against SC Freiburg after being behind twice and is already ten points ahead of the relegation place after 16 match days. Second positive news: Shortly before the last game of the year, captain Patrick Maika extended his contract until 2027.
Eren Dincki (52nd) and former Freiburg player Tim Kleindienst (84th) scored the equalizers for the hosts, who benefited from an own goal by Matthias Ginter (90th + 3) for their third win in a row. Lucas Höler (7th, 64th/foul penalty) gave Freiburg the lead twice. Coach Christian Streich’s team slipped out of the European Cup ranks for the time being due to the defeat.
“Bitter story,” said double packer Höler, who, with all due respect for Heidenheim, immediately criticized himself after the defeat. “We concede goals that are too cheap. They play the ball deep three times and bring the ball in three times. That was poorly defended, that shouldn’t happen to us,” he said on “Sky”.
In the duel between the longest-serving coaches in German professional football, the guests caught Frank Schmidt’s team off on the wrong foot early on. U21 national player Merlin Röhl played a perfect pass to Höler after a pass from Ritsu Doan, who immediately completed it. Heidenheim only had its first chance after a good half hour through Tim Kleindienst, but he was denied by Freiburg goalkeeper Noah Atubolu after a corner (32′).
Ginter makes a mistake in stoppage time
As is often the case, Heidenheim invested more in the game than their opponents, but initially found little space. Freiburg stood well – but only until the 53rd minute, when Kleindienst suddenly had a lot of space on the right during a counterattack and was able to serve Dinkci, who was also unchallenged, practically undisturbed. His shot from 15 meters flew into the top left of the goal.
The game then picked up speed, it went back and forth, Heidenheim in particular seemed to want to force the lead – but fell behind again after Benedikt Gimber brought down the hook-hitting Doan in the penalty area. Freiburg then tried to extend their lead against the bravely running Heidenheim – but was once again out of the picture when it came to the equalizer: Kleindienst was able to score. Ten minutes later, Ginter made the decisive mistake.