Relegation battle ends all square between Freiburg and HSV
Freiburg - SC Freiburg and Hamburger SV took a point each from their relegation battle at the Schwarzwald-Stadion on Saturday afternoon.
Pure relegation scrap
Freiburg went closest to breaking the deadlock within two minutes when they were awarded a penalty, but Jaroslav Drobny came to Hamburg's rescue to deny Vladimir Darida from the spot. The closest the visitors came to scoring was when Nicolai Müller's deflected cross hit the woodwork, but a goalless draw proved to be a fair result in the Black Forest.
Freiburg could not have wished for a better start to the game when Felix Klaus was caught by Ronny Marcos inside the penalty area, giving the hosts their sixth spot-kick of the season - more than any other side. Darida, who had scored his last four penalties this term, stepped up to the spot, but Drobny made a fine save.
Typical of a relegation battle, the game was characterised by plenty of tackles, both foul and fair, with the action consigned to the central third of the field, With defences on top, it looked likely that the first mistake would decide the game and Freiburg were lucky when Müller's cross was deflected onto the crossbar by Marc-Oliver Kempf with Roman Bürki beaten. It was the closest side came to scoring, the two strugglers were forced to settle for a share of the spoils.
Line-ups and statistics
