Freiburg dreams of the Champions League for five minutes – sport

SC Freiburg just missed out on participating in the Champions League for the first time. In a dramatic final, Christian Streich’s team was just one goal short of qualifying and the associated at least 15 million euros for five minutes. But a goal from Leipzig’s Willi Orban in the third minute of injury time to 1-1 against Bielefeld secured fourth place for Saxony. Freiburg plays together with Union Berlin in the Europa League, Cologne takes part in the Conference League. The battle for places in the chronology.

The starting position before the games

  • RB Leipzig, 57 points – the team with the best starting position. With a goal difference of +35, a point against Arminia Bielefeld was enough for the Saxons to secure the Champions League.
  • SC Freiburg, 55 points – has a difficult task at Bayer Leverkusen, needed a win of his own to keep the Champions League option.
  • Union Berlin, 54 points – played at home against Bochum and had to keep 1. FC Köln at bay to avoid ending up in the Conference League. There they were last year, this time it should go one floor higher.
  • 1. FC Cologne, 52 points – had the most difficult task at VfB Stuttgart, who played to stay in the league. Needed a win to swap the Conference League for the Europa League.

1st half

The duels started with a speech by Rudi Völler in Leverkusen. After decades in the Bundesliga, he said goodbye with the words “Thank you, your Rudi”. At least he no longer has an official role from now on, but of course he will always be able to be present in his role as Rudi Völler. In terms of sport, Union Berlin was the first to move. Grisha Prömel headed in his last game for the Köpenickers to take the lead.

One of the scenes of the match day followed: Cologne goalkeeper Marwin Schwäbe saved a penalty kick from Stuttgart giant Sasa Kalajdzic – only to let the Austrian head in the corner that followed. Advantage union. And in Bielefeld it was surprising that Leipzig often gave the ball to East Westphalia – and Christopher Nkunku still missed the 1-0 after he had already rounded goalkeeper Stefan Ortega.

Even more advantage for Union. Taiwo Awoniyi confidently converted a hand penalty, Robert Tesche had previously thrown himself into a shot with his arm. indisputable. Bielefeld meanwhile continued to fight bravely against the favorites from Leipzig and kept the 0-0 – and in Leverkusen Lucas Höler headed against the outside of the post.

In Bielefeld goalkeeper Ortega became more and more the man of the game – he again prevented Leipzig’s lead with a class save against Nkunku. In Stuttgart, too, the focus was on the goalkeeper: there, Schwäbe repeatedly prevented Stuttgart from taking the lead. So everything was still open at the break – which the Leipzigers in particular couldn’t like.

2nd half

What the people of Leipzig liked: The first report of the second half from Leverkusen. Striker Patrik Schick beat Nico Schlotterbeck from Soon-Dortmund and made a pass at the right moment to Lucas Alario, who pushed past Mark Flekken to put Bayer ahead. Suddenly, Leipzig had a three-goal cushion on the Champions League – without somehow shining themselves. Shortly thereafter, Paulinho hit the outside of the post – Leverkusen were the decisive team. Meanwhile, at the Alte Försterei, Simon Zoller shortened the lead for VfL against Union.

Keyword goalkeeper: While Schwäbe did everything for Cologne, Stuttgart’s Florian Müller made a mistake. A cross from Florian Kainz slipped through the fingers of the goalkeeper – Anthony Modeste used the mistake to equalize with a header.

Keyword “erratic Leipziger”: Suddenly Bielefeld led and not undeservedly so. Peter Gulacsi parried a shot from Robin Hack, but Janni Serra chested the ball over the line. Hello Fribourg? Shouldn’t we take advantage of that? Bochum caused excitement for the first time. Eduard Löwen slapped the equalizer – suddenly Cologne was only one goal away from the Europa League.

And Fribourg? Superjoker Nils Petersen was now in the game, coach Christian Streich drove his team anyway, substitute Ermedin Demirović had a good chance – and then suddenly Janik Haberer was there. In the 88th minute he slammed the ball into the goal to make it 1-1. And after that, Freiburg believed in their Champions League chance, only one goal was missing: Jonathan Schmid shot wide of the goal, Philipp Lienhart headed just over it after a corner. In the meantime, the post again prevented the Leverkusen leadership. It got wild – should it really work for the sports club? The Champions League anthem in Freiburg? Christian Streich against Real Madrid?

The answer: no. With the equalizer for Leipzig in the 93rd minute, Willi Orban caused cheers and millions in Saxony. The fact that Leverkusen still made it 2-1 was just as irrelevant as the Union lead against Bochum. It changed nothing. And the late Stuttgart goal against Cologne was also and above all important for VfB Stuttgart. Incidentally, Freiburg can still win the cup. Opponent will be RB Leipzig.

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