Hoffenheim held by Freiburg in gripping draw
Freiburg and Hoffenheim fought out an entertaining 1-1 draw to keep both sides in the hunt for places in Europe.
Freiburg 1-1 Hoffenheim
Goals: 1-0 (Philipp 56'), 1-1 (Kramaric 60')
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The first 45 minutes at the Schwarzwald-Stadion was a tale of two keepers, with Alexander Schwolow and Oliver Baumann in fine form. Freiburg’s stopper denied Nadiem Amiri twice, first at point-blank range and later from distance, in between palming an Andrej Kramaric volley onto his crossbar. With Hoffenheim bombarding Schwolow with 14 shots on goal by half-time, Baumann had little to do until late on when he punched away a Maximilian Philipp effort around his near post.
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The hosts finally broke the deadlock after the break when Philipp was alert enough to latch onto the rebound after Baumann had saved his penalty kick, awarded when Kevin Vogt brought down Florian Niederlechner. But Hoffenheim were level soon afterwards, thanks to a wonderful shot from Kramaric that curled into the top corner of Schwolow’s net. Janik Haberer hit the post with a fine first-time volley, but both sides had to settle for a point each.
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Man of the Match
Andrej Kramaric chanced his arm with five shots on goal, being unlucky not to have two goals rather than one, and stretched the Freiburg defence with 26 sprints.
Talking point
Hoffenheim will be glad to have earned a point, but Hertha Berlin’s victory over Borussia Dortmund halves the gap between the two to just two points. Julian Nagelsmann’s side have competition in the race for a place in the UEFA Champions League.
Match Stats
- Sebastian Rudy made his 200th appearance in the Bundesliga, and with 185 for Hoffenheim only Andreas Beck (216) has more for the club.This was the eight draw in 14 meetings between the two sides in the Bundesliga.Both goalscorers scored their eighth goals of the season.
Line-ups
Freiburg: Schwolow - Kübler, Gulde, Kempf, Günter - Frantz, Höfler - Philipp (Grifo 74'), Schuster - Haberer (Ignjovski 87')- Niederlechner (Petersen 77')
Coach: Christian Streich
Hoffenheim: Baumann - Süle, Vogt, Hübner (Bicakcic 74')- Toljan, Zuber - Rudy - Amiri (Terrazzino 82'), Demirbay - Wagner, Kramaric (Szalai 76')
Coach: Julian Nagelsmann
Watch: Kramaric on his wonder-goal!: