Friday, April 9th, 2021
Against unimaginative Freiburg
Bielefeld makes air in the relegation battle
Newcomer Arminia Bielefeld can continue to dream of staying in class. Against SC Freiburg, the Ostwestfalen can get an important three and send a clear message to the competition in the relegation battle.
Arminia Bielefeld has further fueled the fight to stay in the league. The promoted team defeated SC Freiburg 1-0 (0-0) at the start of the 28th matchday and climbed to 14th place, at least for the time being. The team of coach Frank Kramer, who celebrated a Bundesliga home win in the ninth attempt as head coach for the first time, rewarded for a courageous idea. Bielefeld needed an own goal from Freiburg’s Baptiste Santamaria (68th) for the three points. The SC is likely to have said goodbye to the race for the European Cup with the fourth defeat in the last five games.
However, Freiburg has nothing to do with the relegation battle either. More games are waiting in Bielefeld in which there is nothing to give away: In the last six match days, there are no more teams that currently occupy a European cup place. The next opponents are FC Augsburg and Schalke 04. Bielefeld, for whom, according to sports director Samir Arabi, “has the best strategy seven times” in the last seven games, again relied on long balls and physical strength – and came by Andreas Voglsammer (14th) at the end of a header relay for the first big chance of the game.
As is so often the case this season, the newcomer was lacking in effectiveness in the conclusion. In addition to top scorer Ermedin Demirovic, Lucas Höler (both fifth yellow card) and Italian national player Vincenzo Grifo (corona infection), the guests from Breisgau also had to do without Nicolas Höfler, who became a father in the morning hours. Nevertheless, Freiburg started powerfully and convinced with a variable offensive game. The SC combined purposefully over the outside to the baseline. This was also the case in the 17th minute when Santamaria found Roland Sallai in the middle, but after the Hungarians had finished the ball rolled just past the left post. As a result, Bielefeld gained more control, forcing the guests to operate rather untypically with long balls through good pressing.
It was only shortly before the break whistle that Christian Streich’s team came back in front of the goal of DSC keeper Stefan Ortega with a nice combination, Sallai’s attempt from the edge of the penalty area was blocked. In the second half a fighting game developed with numerous nicknames and more and more inaccuracies. Knowing that a draw would probably be too little, the DSC increased the pressure again – and was rewarded. After a short corner from Arne Maier, Masaya Okugawa withdrew, Santamaria faked his head untenable for Florian Müller.
.