Jonathan Schmid struck early to give Freiburg the lead at the AWD-Arena
Jonathan Schmid struck early to give Freiburg the lead at the AWD-Arena

Freiburg deal Reds another home defeat

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Hanover - SC Freiburg leapt to ninth in the Bundesliga by becoming only the second side to win at Hannover this season with a fully-deserved 2-1 victory.

Freiburg in command

Jonathan Schmid gave Christian Streich's side the led in the 11th minute and Jan Rosenthal earned the visitors all three points with Mohammed Abdllaoue's penalty sandwiched in between.

Hannover’s momentum from a 4-2 win in Stuttgart last weekend, after being 2-0 behind, lasted just 10 minutes at the AWD-Arena before Freiburg took the lead. Caligiuri dribbled in easily past Lars Stindl and Hiroki Sakai and the ball came through to Schmid, who had an open goal to aim at, and he did not miss it either from eight yards out to put Freiburg in front after only 12 minutes. Hannover were stunned and risked falling further behind until their first attack of the game resulted in an equaliser.

Lars Stindl’s shot struck the outstretched arm of Caligiuri and a penalty was awarded, and Abdellaoue beat Oliver Baumann from the spot to restore parity with his third goal in his last two games. While it brought Hannover back into the game in terms of the scoreline, there was only really one side in charge and that was Streich’s visitors, who missed the chance to go in at the break ahead when Julian Schuster blazed a shot over the crossbar with only Ron-Robert Zieler to beat.

Deserved second


It was a similar story in the second half with Caligiuri popping up in front of Zieler in the 50th minute, but the Hannover custodian made two sensational stops to keep his side on terms. Parity lasted only six more minutes, though, before Rosenthal deservedly gave Freiburg the advantage for the second time in the game. He showed strength to hold off Karim Haggui and spread play for Max Kruse, who returned the favour having dribbled his way into the penalty area, picking Rosenthal out for a simple tap-in at the far post.

Inevitably, Mirko Slomka sent everybody forward as Hannover looked to avoid their second home defeat of the season, but at the same time, this invited Freiburg forward to land the killer blow, although Schmid and Caligiuri both failed to provide it, leaving Hannover with a glimmer of hope as the clock ticked down. Their best chance to level came right at the death, but Mame Diouf headed wide, much to Freiburg’s relief.

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