At the start of the year on Saturday, SC Freiburg moved up to the international places in the Bundesliga with a 3-2 (2-0) win against Holstein Kiel. Nicolai Remberg gave Freiburg the lead with an own goal (23rd minute), Christian Günter before the break (38th) and Vicenzo Grifo (74th) increased it afterwards. Phil Harres’ double (85th/90th) came too late for the promoted team.
With 27 points, Freiburg is in sixth place and would therefore qualify for the Conference League. However, the hosts still had to worry about victory at the end. “We started badly and finished badly. What happened in between was relatively good”said SC coach Julian Schuster to the Sportschau. His counterpart Marcel Rapp saw the game play similarly: “We were in a good position in the first 20 minutes, then after conceding two goals the game just sputtered along. And at the back we even had a chance of making it 3-3!”
Freiburg with a deserved lead
By the bad start, the Freiburg coach probably meant goalkeeper Noah Atobolu’s almost fatal mistake: he shot at Kiel striker Phil Harres with a long shot. From there the ball bounced back towards the Freiburg goal before the goalkeeper cleaned up his mistake just before the line.
The hosts increasingly took control after about a quarter of an hour – and were able to celebrate eight minutes later: The scorer, however, was not a Freiburg player, but Kiel’s Remberg, who unfortunately deflected a low cross into his own net with his knee. Kiel seemed shocked and the hosts pushed for the second goal, which Günter scored beautifully with a direct free kick.
Claus Peter Hufer, sports show, January 11, 2025 6:16 p.m
Atobolu saves SC victory against Kiel
After the break, Freiburg’s Lucas Höler scored the first goal (55′). The guests repeatedly lost the ball during the build-up and thus gave the SC dangerous moments of transition: First Merlin Röhl (60th) headed over the goal, a few seconds later Eren Dinkci only hit a Kiel defender. Ritsu Doan was also unable to take advantage of a mistake by KSV goalkeeper Weiner after a shot by Lukas Kübler (68th).
A quarter of an hour before the end, the hosts supposedly decided the game: Doan saw Grifo at the far post, who deliberately pushed the ball into the right corner. Only then did Kiel finally become more dangerous and was suddenly back in the game: Harres scored twice after shots, and Atobolu made several strong saves and saved Freiburg the three points.
Freiburg in Frankfurt, Kiel against Dortmund
Freiburg has its next away game in Frankfurt (14/01, 8:30 p.m.). For Kiel, the next opponent is Borussia Dortmund (January 14th, 6:30 p.m.).