Football – Leipzig – Pragmatism: A first-class position after the victory over Freiburg – Sports

Leipzig (dpa) – There are no fireworks in football, but three important points, and Ruven Schroder also saw this very practically. RB Leipzig found its way back to success through cramps and confusion. Following a 3-1 (1-1) win over Freiburg, Marco Rose’s side overtook Borussia Dortmund to fourth place in the Bundesliga table on Sunday evening and got back on track for the top flight after a 0-2 defeat. In Mainz.

Xavi Simons (sixth minute) gave the cup winners the lead in front of 41,117 spectators. Merlin Rolle (45+6) tied for Freiburg. Luis Obinda (79′) from the penalty spot and Christoph Baumgartner (80′), who had previously taken the penalty kick, made the decision. This means that Freiburg remain winless for the third match in a row and remain in eighth place in the table. Vincenzo Grifo was only able to apologize after his penalty kick. “I’m sorry for the team,” the Freiburg player said.

“We are very happy to have won the game. We always felt like we were on a knife’s edge,” said RB Schroeder, sporting director. Quality is about getting through such a stage, he said, and he particularly praised Rose as a catalyst for the transformation.

Before kick-off, Rose again called on himself to be persistent in order to generate more chances. His players started there. Simons won the ball from Lukas Höller, hit some hooks and shot from 20 meters – 1-0. His fourth Bundesliga goal was almost identical to the opener in the 2-1 Champions League win over Red Star Belgrade, as Arsenal booked their place in the last 16 early. Since then, Leipzig has only stormed Freiburg’s goal. Breisgauers were well out of their game behind the halfway line, so Leipzig needed to be patient when building the game, but the visitors themselves were not dangerous in the first half-hour.

Christian Streich was furiously angry on the sidelines, directing his team and trying to demonstrate passing methods through gestures. “You have to be very brave with your balls, otherwise you won’t have a chance,” he said before the match between the two strongest teams on DAZN. Bresjaur’s first chance to score went to Maximilian Eggestein, but Janis Blasewich blocked it and let the ball bounce forward, with Kylian Celdia pushing the ball over the goal line – but before that he was offside. By this point, RB had had six shots on target for a possession rate of 70%.

But as has happened recently, the Saxons took advantage. And so the visitors, who had more control of the game at the end of the first half, built again. So it was almost logical that Rühl would first let Lukas Klostermann – who was favored over Benjamin Henriques – out and then shoot deliberately to equalize (45 + 6). Blasojic, who had made brilliant saves for weeks and was called up to the German national team for the first time during the week, had no chance.

After the start of the second half, Obinda (46) had the opportunity to advance on the left half, but narrowly missed it from a tight angle. On the other hand, Freiburg fared better: Höller (53′) slid neatly into Noah Weishaupt’s cross – but the referee looked offside and missed the goal. Four minutes later, Blašojic blocked Vincenzo Grifo’s shot. Suddenly, Freiburg, who had been unable to win in their last nine competitive matches against Arsenal, became more present.

Rose responded on the hour mark by substituting three players, bringing in new players, including Yusuf Poulsen, who had to miss the match due to adductor problems. Leipzig pressed, but refrained from taking risks. But the changes brought more structure to the game. Above all, Baumgartner, who had been strong for weeks, converted the penalty first and then scored himself to make it 3-1. “An absolute thoroughbred professional,” Schroeder praised the match-winner.

© dpa-infocom, dpa:231112-99-922419/3