SC Freiburg turned the midfield duel in the Bundesliga against Hamburger SV on Saturday afternoon and deservedly won 2-1 (0-0). Joker Igor Matanovic’s late winning goal, however, caused a lot of discussion: HSV coach Merlin Polzin could not understand why a foul whistle was not blown.
“I cannot accept and understand that the goal is counted“, said the angry Polzin in the Sportschau interview. Johan Manzambi had hit Jordan Torunarigha with his elbow in the header duel when Freiburg’s winning goal was scored, but there was no foul whistle. “I don’t understand how the clear foul doesn’t result in us getting a free kick and the goal not counting. Anyone who sees the goal again will agree with me: it is a clear foul“, says Polzin.
Referee Timo Gerach saw it differently. He said after the game on “DAZN”: “The striker goes to the ball, there is contact, but for me that is typical of football. I didn’t notice any hitting movement, so I continued.”
Luka Vuskovic had previously given Hamburg the lead with his head (48th minute). Just five minutes later, Vincenzo Grifo equalized with a penalty after Daniel Elfadli, who had already been booked, brought down Freiburg’s Lucas Höler in the penalty area – the result was a penalty and a yellow-red card against the defender. In the final phase, Joker Matanovic scored the hotly debated winning goal for Freiburg, who dominated the game (83′).
Freiburg distances Hamburg in the table
In terms of the table, Julian Schuster’s team increased the distance to HSV to seven points with the win. “It wasn’t easy today“said Freiburg’s coach to Sportschau after the game.”When a team is so deep, patience is required. The team did that.” With now 23 points, the SCF climbed to eighth place.
Hamburg, on the other hand, are still waiting for their first away win of the season and remain at 16 points. Depending on the results of the competition from Wolfsburg and Augsburg (both in action on Sunday), HSV could slip to 15th place.
Downs starts at HSV, but Freiburg dominates
At Hamburger SV, coach Polzin was almost forced to start winter newcomer Damion Downs right from the start due to some injury-related absences in the offensive area. Downs, on loan from Southampton, was initially unable to put himself in the spotlight – although this was less due to him than to the extremely passive demeanor of his team.
Freiburg started dominantly, collected possession and created good scoring opportunities early on. Lukas Kübler (9th) and Lucas Höler (19th and 23rd) both missed from good positions after impressive attacks from the hosts. However, the momentum from the initial phase did not last. Freiburg remained dominant in the game, but HSV stabilized and hardly allowed anything to happen when they stood deep.
With nine shots on goal to zero in favor of Freiburg after half an hour, one had to wonder why the fast-paced visitors’ offensive around Downs, Bakery Jatta and Jean-Luc Dompé was so rarely in the spotlight. At least: At the end of the first half the guests improved somewhat. The first chances such as Nicolás Capaldo’s finish in the penalty area (41′) and Fabio Vieira’s free-kick flick (45′) were the result.
Spectacle at the beginning of the second half
The game only really picked up momentum in the second 45 minutes – right after the restart. After a corner kick from Miro Muheim, Vuskovic rose highest and headed towards the far corner. Höler cleared the ball, but the ball had already crossed the goal line and HSV was leading. Vuskovic, 18-year-old central defender and whiz kid this season, scored for the third time this season.
The visitors take the lead: Luka Vuskovic scores to make it 0-1
However, the guests were not allowed to enjoy their leadership for long. Just three minutes after Hamburg made it 1-0, Elfadli brought down Höler in the penalty area, which resulted in a Freiburg penalty and a traffic light card against the Hamburg player who had already been booked. Grifo stayed cool, equalized with a powerful shot to the left and signaled the direction for his SCF with his time-saving celebration: Now the game should be completely turned around.
Another joker goal: Freiburg’s Matanovic causes celebration
From then on, his Freiburgers restricted the Hamburg team, but they defended well when they were outnumbered and hardly allowed any big chances. Substitute Matanovic was allowed to try a header (72′), otherwise there were hardly any compelling Freiburg actions for a long time. That changed when Jan-Niklas Beste quickly crossed in front of the goal after Manzambi’s header challenge and Matanovic pushed the ball over the line in true center forward style.
Matanovic’s goal was Freiburg’s eighth joker goal, a value only surpassed by FC Bayern. “That’s one of our qualities, and that’s what I want to set us apart“, Schuster commented on Freiburg’s strengths from the bench. However late the winning goal came, it was deserved: Freiburg had a clear increase in chances over the entire season (20:9 shots on goal), while Hamburg remained too harmless overall.
Freiburg in Leipzig, HSV against Leverkusen
Freiburg will be guests at RB Leipzig on Wednesday evening during the English week (8.30 p.m.). HSV welcomed Bayer Leverkusen the day before, on Tuesday evening (8:30 p.m.).