Paul Scharner (top) was dismissed in the first half for Hamburg
Paul Scharner (top) was dismissed in the first half for Hamburg

Ten-man Hamburg hold on in Freiburg

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Freiburg - There was no way through for SC Freiburg against ten-man Hamburger SV as the two sides played out a goalless draw on Saturday.

Scharner sent off

The Red Shorts had to make do without the services of central defender Michael Mancienne (flu) for the trip south, with Paul Scharner coming in and enjoying an eventful first half's action. The Austrian was on thin ice following a tenth-minute booking, and was back in the dressing room 15 minutes later, after collecting a second yellow card for a needless foul on Max Kruse.

Until that point, it was Hamburg who looked the most likely to break the deadlock, with Artjom Rudnevs spurning the chance of the half following a mistake from Frieburg's Pavel Krmas and Rafael van der Vaart chancing his arm from range. Maximilian Beister was seeing plenty of possession for the visitors, but Scharner's sending off meant his afternoon would draw to a premature end, as Fink opted for defensive reinforcements in the form of Jeffrey Bruma.

A man down and reduced to playing on the counter, Hamburg were under the cosh after the restart, with Daniel Caligiuri mere inches from finding the bottom corner of Rene Adler’s goal. Rafael van der Vaart was having to drop deeper and deeper just to get a foot on the ball, as Freiburg looked to make use of their numerical advantage.

Adler reactions


Fink's men defended admirably as the clock ticked down, with a combination of Adler's cat-like reactions and the upright denying Kruse's low drive. Freiburg then had shouts for a penalty waved away as Adler and Co. held on for a hard-earned point.

Line-ups and statistics

Christopher Mayer-Lodge