Fernandes fires Freiburg to crucial Braunschweig win
Braunschweig - Eintracht Braunschweig suffered a fifth home defeat of the season as SC Freiburg ran out 1-0 winners in the Eintracht Stadium.
Braunschweig on top
Gelson Fernandes' second-half strike was enough for the Black Forest visitors to move three points clear of basement boys Braunschweig.
Eintracht Braunschweig went into the game with fellow strugglers SC Freiburg level on points, but Torsten Lieberknecht’s charges seemed intent on continuing the impressive run of form that had helped them to pick up four points from the last two Bundesliga matches.
Deniz Dogan could have opened the scoring for the hosts after just eight minutes, but the centre-back failed to connect with Karim Bellarabi’s cut-back from Damir Vrancic’s free-kick. Ermin Bicakcic had the half’s best opportunity after 21 minutes when he got on the end of a low cross from the right, but Oliver Baumann somehow managed to claw the ball to safety.
Fernandes fires Freiburg ahead
It was the visitors, however, who took the lead seven minutes into the second half. Gelson Fernandes received the ball on the edge of the area and wasted no time curling the ball past the stranded Daniel Davari and into the back of the Braunschweig net. Eintracht upped the tempo following Fernandes’ opener and went close through Bellarabi and Dogan, but their long-range efforts failed to find the target.
A further Bellarabi effort was deflected into the side-netting before Kumbela again tested Baumann from distance. As the game wore on, Braunschweig seemed to run out of ideas and the visitors almost sealed victory with seven minutes remaining when Sebastian Freis went close with a shot with the outside of his foot. It didn’t matter, however, as Freiburg held on to record a valuable victory over Lieberknecht’s team, who return to the foot of the Bundesliga table.
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