Freiburg has trouble because of fans
“You often have two or three idiots in the stadium”
05/03/2023, 10:25 am
The cup season is over for SC Freiburg. But after losing the semi-final against RB Leipzig, the club will still have to deal with what’s happening off the field. An attempted space attack by some supporters could result in a penalty.
Sports director Jochen Saier apologized for the dropouts of some SC Freiburg fans in the cup semi-final against RB Leipzig (1: 5). “That sucks,” Saier said about cup throws and a coin toss that apparently hit Leipzig substitute André Silva in the head on Sky. “It doesn’t matter what the situation was before or how it swings, that has no place in the stadium,” said Saier.
At the same time, the 45-year-old also recalled incidents during the first round of the cup, in which the Breisgauers had won 2-1 after extra time at 1. FC Kaiserslautern. “I saw handfuls of small change, but that’s not an apology. It doesn’t belong in the stadium, it doesn’t belong here,” said Saier: “You can only apologize for that.” The goal now must be to identify the coin launcher.
RB coach Marco Rose also said: “This is an incident that must not happen.” However, he also emphasized: “But you often have two or three idiots in the stadium.” Leipzig’s Silva was hit by a two-euro coin while warming up in the middle of the second half, after which he lay down on the ground. Emotions then boiled over briefly, a few Freiburg fans made it into the interior, but were pushed back by stewards. Some Freiburg players also talked to the fans.
Günter sees complicity in Silva
Freiburg’s captain condemned the behavior of the angry fans. It is “not nice that they go down the fence, it doesn’t have to be,” said Christian Günter on Sky: “It also scares a bit when it comes to violence”, even if “nothing major happened”. However, he also criticized Silva: “I don’t lie down there. I got five lighters in the back at Schalke last week at a corner kick,” he said. “If it’s not a laceration or something, I take the thing, throw it to the side, then it’s done, then the emotions don’t boil so high.”
According to referee Sven Jablonski, the game was never about to be canceled due to the incidents. For the safety of the players, he had sent the Leipzig substitutes to the other side to warm up, which led to a brief interruption. “We spontaneously decided that the substitutes should switch sides. The Freiburg players also had a calming effect,” explained Jablonski: “If the players had signaled that they needed a break, we would have reacted.”
However, the excitement should have an aftermath. Because Jablonski recorded the incidents in the match report. “We write in what we perceived,” he said: “The safety of the players comes first at all times. However, abandoning the game is the last resort. We were able to continue because the players were ultimately safe.”