Christian Streich was apparently not even aware of the club’s historical dimension of success until he was asked about it. “Never, never, never? Hasn’t Volker ever won?” asked Streich when he found out that his team’s 2-1 win was the first success of a SC Freiburg team at FC Bayern. Even Volker Finke, coach in Freiburg from 1991 to 2007, didn’t succeed. His most famous team, which was given the nickname “Breisgau Brazilians” in 1993, beat Munich 3-1 in the home game with three goals from Uwe Wassmer. Away, however, she lost 1:3.
In order to replace the team from back then as the most glorious in the club’s history, the victory in the DFB Cup quarter-finals against Bayern was of course not necessary. That was already clear from the successes of the recent past, reaching the cup final last season, the undefeated group stage in the Europa League this season. The sports club was only eliminated against Juventus Turin. In the cup, all it takes is one more win for a chance to do better in the final in Berlin than they lost to RB Leipzig on penalties last year. And in the Bundesliga, Streich’s side are currently fourth in the table, which could mean the club’s first participation in the Champions League.
“We’ve already had other great victories,” Streich dutifully put it into perspective. But even he had to admit that the success was “something special”, which sounded almost euphoric from his lips. In any case, the 2-1 was likely to change the nickname to “Breisgau-Italian”. Because it was a kind of Black Forest catenaccio, with which the Freiburg team defended the 1-1 draw with great dedication and tactics, until Lucas Höler scored the winning goal in added time with a penalty.
They often blocked the goal with a six-man chain because defensive midfielders Maximilian Eggestein and Nicolas Höfler withdrew to the back four. And the four offensive players who constantly ran into opponents and spaces were also more in demand as defenders. Striker Höler even tried as a kind of man mark to prevent Joshua Kimmich from calmly building up the game. It was fitting that the Bayern goal fell after a corner kick, which Kimmich was exceptionally able to execute undisturbed.
And yet the win would never have been possible if Höfler hadn’t hit the ball perfectly in the 27th minute and fired from the air from outside the penalty area into the corner. Any goalkeeper in the world would have had no chance. The 33-year-old also took the penalty: Jamal Musiala saved his shot with his hands.
It was Höfler’s ninth trip to Munich as a Freiburg professional, and he wasn’t part of the squad twice. So he was able to tell credibly that his team had “worked for a very, very long time” to “win here in Munich”. And as far as the Bundesliga game on Saturday is concerned, when FC Bayern is a guest in Freiburg, he can also show expertise. He has already witnessed a home win against Bayern: a 2-1 win in May 2015.
