Hamburg cruise to win in Freiburg
Freiburg - Hamburger SV picked up their second away win of the season against SC Freiburg, triumphing 3-0 at the MAGE Solar Arena.
Positive start by Freiburg
Maximilian Beister profited from a gift from the Freiburg captain and goalkeeper Oliver Baumann, who made a similar error early in the second half to allow Pierre-Michel Lasogga to convert for a fourth consecutive league match. Rafael van der Vaart then rounded off the scoring on a day to forget for Baumann as HSV maintained their unbeaten start under Bert van Marwijk.
All eyes were on Vladimir Darida, making his first Bundesliga start for Freiburg after taking his bow - and scoring - in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday. Freiburg’s summer signing has not yet been able to make an impression at his new club due to injury, but he appeared keen to make up for lost time as he led the hosts’ early attacks, nearly teeing up Francis Coquelin, who was unable to keep his header down while leaning back five yards out.
Freiburg certainly were the more aggressive side, and when Hamburg defender Johan Djourou limped out of the action clutching his groin, their chances appeared to increase. The opposite proved to be the case, though, with Hamburg collectively compensating for their loss by keeping the ball further up the field, and finding room to create their own chances. Lasogga had a dig from 30 yards, his shot clipping the bottom of the left-hand post on its way wide.
Fans’ fair play
The in-form Lasogga was then denied by Baumann with an instinctive save, but shortly afterwards, the Freiburg custodian’s day took a turn for the worse when he was caught out, with costly consequences. He scampered from his line in a bid to cut out a long ball forwards, but misjudged the bounce of the ball, leaving Beister to give Hamburg the lead, tucking the ball into the unguarded goal.
There could only be one person to take the blame for the goal, yet the home fans were exemplarily forgiving, chanting Baumann’s name to lift his spirits. It clearly did not have the desired effect as another blunder from the Freiburg captain gifted Lasogga Hamburg’s second of the game immediately after the restart. Another misjudgement, this time as to whether he was inside or outside the penalty area led to him fumbling the ball into the path of Lasogga, who continued his record of scoring whenever he starts for the Red Shorts.
Three and easy
Gift number three for Hamburg duly arrived when Beister’s 25-yard shot was spilled by Baumann at the feet of van der Vaart, who made it three and ended Freiburg’s hopes after little over an hour of the game. It was already damage limitation for the Baden-Württemberg club, not least for Baumann, who had to cope with the ironic cheers of the Hamburg fans each time he received the ball.
The youngster, handed the captain's armband for the first time in career against Hamburg, kept his cool to prevent any further damage being done, denying Ivo Ilicevic by getting fingertips to the midfielder's cheeky lob. However, Freiburg showed no signs of mustering up a late response as they remained without a league win this season to round off another disappointing week.
Line-ups and statistics
