Hoffenheim 1-3 Freiburg
Goals: 0-1 Santamaria (7'), 0-2 Grifo (pen. 34'), 0-3 Adams (o.g. 42'), 3-1 Bebou (58')

The Black Forest club went on the front foot right from kick-off and took the lead as early as the seventh minute when Baptiste Santamaria lashed in from a tight angle following Ermedin Demirovic’s flick-on. Matters soon went from bad to worse for Hoffenheim, with both Sebastian Rudy and Kevin Akpoguma substituted off with injuries inside the opening 20 minutes. The hosts struggled to shake off those early setbacks – and Freiburg were in an unforgiving mood, with Grifo coolly doubling the away side’s lead from the penalty spot after substitute Melayro Bogarde had handled inside the area. Freiburg put the outcome beyond all doubt just before half-time when Demirovic squirmed past Kevin Vogt as he drove into the right-hand side of the box, and his cross into the middle was inadvertently bundled over the line by Hoffenheim defender Kasim Adams.

To their credit, Hoffenheim came out fighting in the second half and refused to go into damage limitation mode. Instead, they focused on winning tackles in midfield and getting to the second balls first - and gradually some self-belief started to return. Sebastian Hoeneß’s charges were rewarded midway through the half when Ishak Belfodil teed up Ihlas Bebou to rifle in from the edge of the area, and they almost added a second moments later, only for Andrej Kramaric to head wide from a corner. That was about as good as it got for Hoffenheim though, with Freiburg quickly restoring order at the back before substitute Nils Petersen tested Oliver Baumann with a stinging drive from 20 yards and Grifo firing straight at the home goalkeeper from a similar position. A dipping long-range Robert Skov free-kick late on drew a rare save from Florian Müller, who was otherwise a spectator as Freiburg comfortably held on to continue their winning run.

TSG Hoffenheim TSG Hoffenheim - SCF Freiburg Sport-Club Freiburg

Grifo scores again as in-form Freiburg defeat Hoffenheim