RB Leipzig with a lot of cramp to victory against Freiburg

RB Leipzig got back on the road to success with a lot of cramp and a good deal of luck. With the 3:1 (1:1) win against SC Freiburg on Sunday evening, coach Marco Rose's team moved past Borussia Dortmund into fourth place in the Bundesliga table and are back on course for the top flight after the 2:0 loss in Mainz. Xavi Simons (6th minute) put the cup winners ahead in front of 41,117 spectators. Merlin Röhl (45.+6) equalized for Freiburg before Lois Openda (79) scored from the penalty spot and Christoph Baumgartner (80), who had previously saved the penalty, decided the game. As a result, Freiburg remain winless for the third game in a row and remain eighth in the table.

Rose once again called for determination before kick-off in order to generate more chances. His players did just that. Simons won the ball himself from Lucas Höler, made a couple of interceptions and fired home from 20 meters - 1:0. His fourth Bundesliga goal was almost identical to the opening goal in the 2:1 win at Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League, when RB booked their place in the last 16 early. From then on, Leipzig only attacked Freiburg's goal. The Breisgauers were well staggered behind the halfway line, so Leipzig needed patience when building up play, but the visitors were not dangerous themselves in the first half hour.

Christian Streich raved wildly on the touchline, directing his team and gesticulating as he tried to point out passing lanes. "You have to be extremely brave with your own balls, otherwise you have no chance," he told DAZN ahead of the match between the two teams with the strongest duels. Maximilian Eggestein had the first chance to score for Breisgau, but Janis Blaswich made a save and allowed the ball to bounce forward, where Kiliann Sildilla pushed the ball over the line - but he was offside beforehand. At this point, RB had already had six shots on goal with 70 per cent possession.

However, as in the past, the Saxons were wasting chances. As a result, the visitors, who had more of the play at the end of the first half, built themselves up again. It was therefore almost logical that Röhl first allowed Lukas Klostermann - who was preferred to Benjamin Henrichs - to get out of the way and then calmly shot in the equalizer (45.+6). Blaswich, who had been making 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 restart, Openda (46) had the chance to take the lead on the half-left, but missed narrowly from an acute angle. Freiburg did better at the other end: Höler (53) slipped in a cross from Noah Weißhaupt - but the referee saw it as offside and disallowed the goal. Four minutes later, Blaswich parried a shot from Vincenzo Grifo. Freiburg, who had not won their last nine competitive matches against RB, suddenly had more of a presence.

Rose reacted after an hour by making three changes, bringing on fresh players, including Yussuf Poulsen, who had recently had to miss out due to adductor problems. Leipzig pressed, but shied away from taking risks. However, the changes brought more structure back into the game. Baumgartner in particular, who had been playing strongly for weeks, first took the penalty and then scored himself to make it 3:1.