Waldschmidt rescues point for ten-man Freiburg in six-goal thriller with Stuttgart
Luca Waldschmidt's late equaliser earned ten-man Freiburg a 3-3 draw against VfB Stuttgart in a thrilling contest at the Schwarzwald-Stadion.
Freiburg 3-3 VfB Stuttgart
Goals: 1-0 Gondorf (1’), 1-1 Insua (44’), 1-2 Gomez (48’), 2-2 Gondorf (52’), 2-3 Gomez (56’), 3-3 Waldschmidt (81’)
Red card: Stenzel (83’)
Both teams went into the game searching for their first points of the campaign, but it was Freiburg who made the brighter start in the Black Forest, breaking the deadlock inside the opening 60 seconds courtesy of Jerome Gondorf’s diving near-post header. Nils Petersen squandered a golden opportunity to double the hosts’ lead, before Emiliano Insua stunned the home crowd with a powerful finish into the far corner to send the sides in level at the break.
VfB came out with all guns blazing after the restart and took the lead for the first time in the match when Mario Gomez prodded home after Alexander Schwolow had saved the frontman’s initial header. Gondorf’s sublime free-kick drew Freiburg level again four minutes later, only for Gomez to head in his second of the game moments afterwards from Insua’s devilish right-wing cross. The hosts piled bodies forward late on, and they got the equaliser their late pressure merited when substitute Waldschmidt rifled into the net via a deflection off Benjamin Pavard. Pascal Stenzel was dismissed late on for a second bookable offence, but Christian Streich's charges held on to claim a point.
Match stats
- The last Freiburg player to score inside the first minute of a game was Papiss Cisse, against Mainz in April 2011.Insua’s strike was the Argentine’s first in the Bundesliga.It was also Stuttgart’s first competitive goal of the 2018/19 campaign.Gomez has now scored 12 goals in his last dozen appearances against Freiburg.All three of Waldschmidt's Bundesliga goals to date have come from the bench.Veteran VfB striker Gomez made his 300th Bundesliga start in the Black Forest, while Freiburg defender Dominique Heintz made his 100th outing in Germany’s top flight.
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Line-ups
Freiburg: Schwolow - Stenzel, Gulde, Heintz, Günter - Haberer, Höfler, Gondorf (Koch 90+3'), Frantz (c) (Kübler 88') - Petersen, Niederlechner (Waldschmidt 68')
Unused subs: Flekken, Höler, Terrazzino, Sallai
Absentees: Abrashi (fitness), Borello, Stanko (all knee), Kleindienst (back)
Coach: Christian Streich
Stuttgart: Zieler – Beck (Donis 86'), Pavard, Baumgartl, Insua – Gentner (c) (Badstuber 77'), Castro (Akolo 46'), Ascacibar, Aogo - Gomez, Gonzalez
Unused subs: Grahl, Maffeo, Thommy, Özcan
Absentees: Meyer (ankle), Didavi (Achilles)
Coach: Tayfun Korkut
Watch: Mario Gomez on scoring goals at 33
As it happened