Sunday, September 26, 2021
Augsburg desolate and without a chance
Freiburg intoxicated at the stadium farewell
The last Bundesliga game in Freiburg’s Dreisamstadion will be an emotional celebration. The SC beats FC Augsburg as deservedly as clearly and sets a club record in the process.
The football professionals of SC Freiburg have said goodbye to the venerable Dreisamstadion with a gala performance. The Baden won their last Bundesliga home game in the 67-year-old cult site 3-0 (3-0) against FC Augsburg. Lukas Kübler (6th minute), Lucas Höler (25th) and Vincenzo Grifo (34th, hand penalty) scored the goals for coach Christian Streich’s team in front of 14,400 spectators, who will play in the new Europa-Park Stadium in the future.
In the table, Freiburg climbed to fifth place with their third win of the season. By remaining unbeaten on matchday six, they also set a new start record in their Bundesliga history. Augsburg, who suffered a setback a week after their first success of the season against Borussia Mönchengladbach (1-0), slipped to 15th place.
There was a great atmosphere in the stadium even before kick-off. The audience, including the former Freiburg successful coach Volker Finke and ex-DFB President Fritz Keller, sang the Badnerlied fervently, waved their scarves and applauded. And the Freiburg professionals joined the party right away. After FCA goalkeeper Rafal Gikiewicz had fended off a dangerous shot from captain Christian Günter to the side, full-back Kübler met while sliding to the early lead.
The special permit is no longer required
That gave the hosts noticeable security. The FCA, on the other hand, remained without a really dangerous goal finish for the entire first half despite their best efforts. In the middle of the phase in which the guests seemed to find their way around a little better, the 2-0 fell. Midfielder Maximilian Eggestein, one of four newcomers to Freiburg’s starting eleven, put the ball through to Höler – and the striker hit with a remarkable lob.
Less than ten minutes later, referee Daniel Schlager decided on a penalty after a handball by FCA defender Raphael Framberger. Noble technician Grifo transformed highly and confidently to the 999th Bundesliga goal in the Dreisamstadion. The game was more or less decided by the break.
In the second half, Freiburg’s Woo-yeong Jeong (65th) missed the anniversary goal. Then Augsburg’s Mads Pedersen saved a shot by Günter on the line (66th), Ermedin Demirovic failed to Rafal Gikiewicz (78th). In the meantime, the celebrations continued in the stands. Laola swept through the stadium, in which a total of 360 Bundesliga games have now taken place and for whose space – shorter than allowed, wider than usual and with a gradient of almost one meter towards Dreisam – the club needed a special permit for years.
The new stadium with a capacity of almost 35,000 seats, for which construction costs of 76 million euros were estimated, was built in November 2018 near the airfield in the north-west of the city. The arena will go into operation at the upcoming home game on October 16 against RB Leipzig.