While many fans and pundits seemed to believe Monchengladbach were capable of walking through Freiburg, it always felt like this was going to be a much tougher game for them than was initially advertised. In the end, we saw a fascinating chess match between the two European contenders with the hosts managing to edge out a narrow yet potentially vital 1-0 win.
Pushing back once again
Freiburg came into this game knowing they needed a big result if they wanted to keep their hopes of qualifying for the Europa League alive. They started off fairly well and didn’t appear to experience any kind of dominance at the hands of Gladbach, although the visitors were able to dictate the pace from a possession standpoint.
As the game went on the confidence of Freiburg continued to grow, and you could sense a growing frustration in Gladbach as they saw their hopes of securing all three points slipping away. On the flip side, just before the hour mark, it was lift off for Freiburg as Nils Petersen gave them the lead. It seemed as if that was going to set us up for quite the finale, and while that did prove to be the case, there was another twist in the tale.
Tactical, decisive and to the point
Alassane Plea received a second yellow card in the 68th minute, reducing Monchengladbach to ten. Freiburg continued to defend valiantly and did everything in their power to avoid an equaliser, and as the full time whistle blew, you could sense the relief after a tremendous effort that sees them move to within just a point of the top six.
They’ll sit back and wait for the rest of the games to take place over the course of the weekend, before looking towards an absolutely huge clash against Wolfsburg next Saturday. They’ll then go on to host Hertha Berlin, whereas for Borussia Monchengladbach, there won’t be all too much time to dwell on this as they face a massive double header of their own in the form of games against Bayern Munich and Wolfsburg.
Match Report
Freiburg: Schwolow (7.5), Gunter (7.5), Heintz (7.5), Leinhart (7), Kubler (7), Hofler (8), Koch (7), Grifo (7.5), Sallai (6), Waldschmidt (6.5), Holer (7), Kwon (6), Petersen (7.5), Frantz (6), Haberer (6), Schmid (6.5)
Borussia Monchengladbach: Sommer (7), Lainer (6.5), Ginter (7), Elvedi (6.5), Bensebaini (6.5), Hofmann (6.5), Neuhaus (6.5), Herrmann (6), Stindl (7), Thuram (6), Plea (4.5), Wendt (6.5), Benes (6), Traore (6), Raffael (6)
Referee: Markus Schmidt
Goals: Petersen
Yellow Cards: Kubler, Hofler, Koch, Waldschmidt, Plea x2, Lainer
Red Cards: Plea
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