It took less than six minutes for Callum Hudson-Odoi to get to know the rough nature of the Bundesliga. The prominent Chelsea loanee came on as a substitute in the 60th minute and was still looking for the right position on the field when he was unsuspectingly rudely cleared from the side. It was a foul that could well have been given a yellow card, but then referee Sascha Stegemann would have had to show it to himself because he apparently knew just as little about the 21-year-old’s movements as his new teammates.
It was only a minor accident, to be sure, but Hudson-Odoi on the ground had instant symbolic power. Because soon after that, the fast Englishman had to give his first interview as a loser. He spoke to Sky of “sloppy goals”, goals through sloppiness, for which his team was brutally punished in the 2: 3 (1: 0) against the new leaders: That’s right, SC Freiburg is the Bundesliga leaders for at least a week, for the first time for 22 years. “Is that so?” Maximilian Eggestein asked incredulously, he hadn’t even thought about that yet. His coach Christian Streich, who is known to be a notorious low-key, didn’t care much about leading the table, but much about the points that his team had brought there: “If you have twelve points after five games, then you must have done something right.”
SC Freiburg enjoys so much sympathy for its continuous rise in the national league that it is hard to say that watching Freiburg games is often not very entertaining. The spaces are narrowed with the utmost skill and speed, and it takes tremendous effort to get behind the two defensive bars. In this respect, it was amazing to see how Leverkusen not only copied the Freiburg style before the break, but optimized it. The guests found absolutely no gaps in the opposing team, and emergency plan 1b – sets by Vincenzo Grifo – were irrelevant because Leverkusen did their best to avoid fouls in dangerous zones.
Vincenzo Grifo first runs behind – then he turns the game for the guests
Grifo didn’t experience the best half of his career, because in the 16th minute it was revealed that he’s not the greatest defensive specialist: a strong attack was enough for Leverkusen central defender Kossonou to have the right flank for himself. He briskly stormed to the baseline, and when the danger seemed to have been averted for the guests, Kerim Demirbay shot into the confusing situation and beat SC goalkeeper Mark Flekken from close range to make it 1-0. After that, Leverkusen began to break the Freiburg chains. The visitors experienced a few moments of uncertainty, but the good news at the break was the half-time score, only 0-1.
Immediately after the restart, Freiburg demonstrated how quickly a superior half-time lead can be gone: Corner Grifo, powerful header by Ginter, 1: 1 (47th). And because the elegant Bayer defender Tapsoba passed the ball in his own penalty area just three minutes later and Gregoritsch completed it, the course of the game was quickly turned upside down. There were “good and not so good moments,” said Streich, “a few games could have ended differently.” For example in Leverkusen, where Bayer soon defended with a two-man chain and Hudson-Odoi, two minutes before the collision with referee Stegemann, collected his first assist by sending the ball to Patrik Schick’s head (64th).
Did Freiburg wobble? Yes. did it fall On the contrary. Contingency plan 1b came into play again when Grifo kicked in a corner, Höfler headed it in and Doan was quicker on the ball than Sinkgraven, who had previously unnecessarily gifted the corner to Freiburg. Basically, the guests made three goals from two chances, that’s what you call either lucky or highly efficient. “We weren’t resolute enough in a few scenes,” complained Bayer coach Gerardo Seoane, who has to live with the penalty of being responsible for the Werkself’s worst start to the season in 40 years. The Swiss hopes that the short game schedule in the next few weeks with the Champions League and Bundesliga can help the unsettled team to shake off the poor results and start over.
You see things a little differently in Breisgau. Overall, the point cushion is so important to tackle the Europa League without worries. In Freiburg nobody has forgotten the seasons in which the SC got out of step nationally due to international luxury, Freiburg could not even prevent relegation to league two. “We are therefore very happy about this start – the results are currently going well for us,” said Streich, “but” – because there is almost always a but with him – “I know how to classify the games.”