The Wolves’ European hopes suffered a setback on Friday evening as they lost 2-0 at SC Freiburg. After a first half of few opportunities, Freiburg substitutes Christian Günter (71’) and Nils Petersen (75’) scored shortly after entering the fray in the second half to earn the hosts all three points. The home side were reduced to ten men in stoppage time when Nicolas Höfler was sent off.
The Green-and-Whites host Hertha BSC in their final game of the season on Saturday 27 May, kicking off at 15:30 CEST.
Goals
1-0 Günter (71’): Günter, who has only been on the pitch a matter of seconds, collects the ball from Roland Sallai. The Freiburg captain and Germany international pulls the trigger from long range, his shot taking a wicked deflection off Sebastiaan Bornauw and leaving Koen Casteels stranded.
2-0 Petersen (75’): Sallai is the architect once again, setting up another Freiburg substitute for the hosts’ second of the game. Petersen, playing his final home game for the club, is in the right place at the right time to convert the Hungarian’s low cross to complete the scoring in a frustrating defeat for the Wolves.
Reaction
Niko Kovac: “It was an even game for 70 minutes but the last 20 made the difference. Freiburg therefore deserved to win and we deserved to lose in the end. We didn’t defend the goals well, and the first took an unfortunate deflection. We couldn’t pick ourselves up after going 1-0 down.”
Line-ups and stats
SC Freiburg: Flecken – K. Schmidt (70‘ Günter), Ginter, Lienhart – Sallai (90‘ Schmid), M. Eggestein, Höfler, Weißhaupt (70‘ Kübler), Doan (70‘ Petersen), Grifo - Höler (90‘+1 Jeong)
Subs: Uphoff (GK), Gulde, Keitel, Gregoritsch
VfL Wolfsburg: Casteels – Bornauw, Guilavogui, van de Ven – Baku, Arnold (82’ Svanberg), Kaminski (82‘ Paredes), F. Nmecha, Gerhardt – Wimmer (57‘ Waldschmidt), Wind (82‘ Marmoush)
Subs: Pervan (GK), Cozza, Fischer, Franjic, Pejcinovic
Goals: 1-0 Günter (71‘), 2-0 Petersen (75‘)
Yellow cards: Sallai / Wind, Wimmer, Gerhard
Red card: Höfler
Referee: Bastian Dankert (Rostock)
Attendance: 33,300 at Europa-Park-Stadion, Freiburg
