Just one point from the first two games
In the first game in the second half of the season, FC Augsburg will go to Freiburg. The sports club said goodbye to the winter break as second in the table, but expectations for the restart were somewhat dampened. The Breisgauer in check before the game on Saturday afternoon (3.30 p.m.).
The first half of the year is definitely impressive. Freiburg have only suffered four defeats in 17 Bundesliga games, and they are exactly two points behind Bayern’s new rivals 1. FC Union Berlin. The SC is also still represented in the DFB Cup – second division team SV Sandhausen are waiting there on February 7th – and in the Europa League. On the international stage you could qualify directly for the round of 16 with 14 points from six games.
Facts and figures that one could only dream of in Breisgau a few years ago. But the Freiburgers are no longer an underdog, they shine with continuity, clever transfers and an extremely calm and multifaceted style of play. The success is closely linked to the name of Christian Streich, who has been head coach in Freiburg for over eleven years and repeatedly acts as a reminder and motivator.
But: The start of the new year was rather sluggish, at the start the Breisgauer got under the wheels at the 0: 6 in Wolfsburg. Things went better on Wednesday in the chasing duel against Eintracht Frankfurt, when the current sixth in the table created a few scoring chances and also found a suitable answer to the quite surprising goal from Randal Kolo Muani (42nd). Matthias Ginter scored the goal to make it 1-1 shortly after the half-time break (47th).
So now the duel with FCA follows, the first leg in the WWK ARENA ended with a clear victory for Freiburg (0:4). At that time, Michael Gregoritsch, who moved to the sports club from Augsburg last summer, also entered the list of goalscorers. The Austrian has six goals this season, as many as Ermedin Demirović, who took the completely different route and now strikes for the red-green-whites.
Shortly after the draw against Frankfurt, Streich looked ahead to Saturday’s game at the Europa-Park Stadium: “It won’t be any easier against Augsburg. We have to be there with the same presence.” The Freiburg head coach has to do without midfield player Nicolas Höfler, who has seen his fifth yellow card of the current season.
