Hannover - Following a six-year spell in Germany’s top flight, SC Freiburg will once again be playing second tier football next season after falling to a 2-1 loss against Hannover 96, who themselves secured their safety following a turbulent season.

Krmas catastrophe proves costly

Hiroshi Kiyotake gave Hannover an early lead, before a mishap at the back saw Pavel Krmas put the ball into his own net. Though Nils Petersen pulled a goal back in added time, it wasn’t enough to save Freiburg from the drop after both Hamburger SV and VfB Stuttgart picked up wins on the final day.

The hosts’ relieved the pressure on themselves with just four minutes played as Kiyotake put Hannover in front with the first headed goal of his Bundesliga career, nodding home Miiko Albornoz’s delightful delivery. Invigorated on account of their midweek training camp in Klosterpforte, Hannover’s composure in possession and discipline at the back was preventing Freiburg from offering any threat in the final third with two Felix Klaus half-chances as close as the visitors came to getting on the scoresheet before half time.

Christian Streich’s half-time team talk appeared to spark his charges in action as they showed a greater sense of ambition after the restart with Admir Mehmedi drawing a strong save out of Ron-Robert Zieler with 50 minutes played. However, all of Freiburg’s hard work came undone with just under ten minutes left on the clock when, after Roman Bürki had made an outstanding save to deny Jimmy Briand, Krmas proceeded to put the ball in his own net in his attempts to clear the danger. Petersen’s thumping drive in the 92nd minute proved nothing more than a consolation effort as Freiburg slipped into 17th place.

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