Nils Petersen the hero for Freiburg as Borussia Mönchengladbach pay the penalty
A resurgent Freiburg team won for the third time in four matches as Nils Petersen’s goal gave them victory over Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Freiburg 1-0 Gladbach
Goals: 1-0 Petersen (pen. 20’)
Freiburg were understandably energised following a sensational comeback from three goals down to win at Cologne and their enterprising start here was almost rewarded on 15 minutes. Tim Kleindienst cut in from the left and saw a beautifully struck right-footed shot come back off the bar but four minutes later, the home side were awarded a penalty on the advice of the Video Assistant Referee. Petersen, who was fouled, scored from the spot for the third time in two matches. Kleindienst and Christian Günter both had further opportunities before the break as the visiting Foals, who gave English defender Reece Oxford his first start at right back, struggled to find their stride.
Petersen was the next to strike the bar, just 30 seconds into the second half, and moments later Gladbach keeper Yann Sommer had to tip a Kleindienst header over. Janik Haberer brought the best out of Sommer with a shot from distance as Freiburg peppered the Gladbach goal, though substitute Raffael drew a fine save from Freiburg netminder Alexander Schwolow in a rare moment of quality from the visitors.
Match stats
- Freiburg are unbeaten in their last 10 home games against the Foals (W8, D2) - their best run against any Bundesliga opponent.Christian Streich’s team had 23 shots to Gladbach’s six.Dieter Hecking’s visitors have kept just three clean sheets this term. They have conceded more goals (27) than they did in the whole of the first half of 2016/17 (only Cologne and Freiburg have conceded more).The home side have conceded just six goals in their last nine matches at the Schwarzwald-Station. They have lost just one of those games (1-0 to Schalke on Matchday 11).Gladbach’s Vincenzo Grifo was up against his former employers. The Italian was Freiburg’s top scorer in both the last two seasons.No other Bundesliga team had collected more points from their previous three games than Freiburg (7).
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Line-ups
Freiburg: Schwolow - Stenzel, Söyüncü, Koch, Günter (c) - Höfler - Haberer, Terrazzino (Sierro 90+1’), Ravet, Kleindienst (Kath 84’) – Petersen (Stanko 78’)
Unused subs: Gikiewicz, Kent, Kübler, Schuster
Coach: Christian Streich
Gladbach: Sommer – Oxford, Ginter, Vestergaard, Wendt – Hazard (Cuisance 60’), Kramer (Bobadilla 76’), Zakaria, Grifo – Stindl, Drmic (Raffael 60’)
Unused subs: Sippel, Hoffmanns, Bobadilla, Benger, Yeboah
Coach: Dieter Hecking