3rd match day
“Man of the Match”: Freiburg wins – Flekken strong
Goal scorer Vincenzo Grifo, Christian Günter and Michael Gregoritsch (lr) celebrate the goal for Freiburg 1:0. photo
© Uli Deck/dpa
Vincenzo Grifo shoots SC Freiburg to the next victory in the state duel with VfB Stuttgart. But thanks go to the goalkeeper. A week after his blunder, he is back in top form.
Last week he was the big loser, this time the unsung hero. “I needed that,” said goalkeeper Mark Flekken from SC Freiburg after his strong performance in the state duel with VfB Stuttgart.
In the opinion of their coach Christian Streich, Baden celebrated a “really lucky” victory against the Swabians. Flekken even described the second success of the Breisgauer in the second away game of the Bundesliga as “dirty”.
Goalscorer Grifo: “Flekken Man of the Match”
Vincenzo Grifo made the decision in the eleventh minute, but afterwards he mainly thanked his keeper. “Last week he let the ball slip through his fingers, today he was man of the match in my eyes,” said Grifo with a big grin. Only Flekken’s, who stood a few meters from him and heard the praise directly, was even broader. In the 1: 3 against Dortmund a week earlier, Flekken had involuntarily initiated the turnaround in favor of the guests with his mistake. This time he held the Freiburg lead to the end – sometimes in a spectacular way.
It was a “proper shock” against BVB, said the 29-year-old in retrospect. But he tried to “check it off as quickly as possible” and approach the game in Stuttgart “like any other”. And he succeeded. The Dutch national goalkeeper, whose appearances in the coming months will be under particular scrutiny with a view to the Winter World Cup in Qatar, saved all of VfB’s few really compelling chances. He responded very strongly to a header from Konstantinos Mavropanos (35′). And in the heated final phase, Flekken again proved to be the reliable goalkeeper that they value so much in Freiburg.
Prank self-critical after the game
In the first half, the Badeners were quite controlled, in the second they appeared surprisingly passive. He had to “compliment” VfB because after the break “they were better than us in some things,” said SC coach Streich. Freiburg had switched from a back four to a back three and five and tried to provide counterattack and relief via substitute Woo-yeong Jeong. The plan didn’t really work out. “I’m not particularly happy with myself either,” said Streich self-critically.
It was still enough for the fifth Freiburg league win against Stuttgart in a row. One reason was Grifo, who used a blunder in the VfB defense ice cold. The offensive man pushed a crossed ball, which Stuttgart’s Waldemar Anton “just has to clear”, according to his own assessment, but instead let it through, over the line at the second post.
Another reason was that the Swabians, despite their best efforts, lacked the necessary penetrating power. And another was the strong Flekken. “It was a great performance from everyone. If I can help in this way, I’d rather do it every game,” said Freiburg’s goalkeeper, who was inconsolable last week – this time with a hearty laugh.