Fixtures

Freiburg - FCK

In his first game at the helm of 1. FC Kaiserslautern, Krassimir Balakov fielded a 4-1-4-1 formation, with Yahia alongside Rodnei in central defense, Dick and Bugera at full-back, and Sippel in goal. Borysiuk took the holding position, with De Wit and Tiffert in central midfield. Sahan and Fortounis patrolled the flanks, with Derstroff as the nominal target man.

The Red Devils got off to a good start. The defense stood firm, leaving Freiburg with few scraps to feed off. However, Ballakov’s side fell behind early when Rodnei’s attempted clearance rebounded off Freis’ head and fell to Guede just for the Hamburg-born Slovak to slot home with only eight minutes on the clock. Buoyed by the early goal, Freiburg pushed forward and doubled the lead seven minutes later when Makiadi connected with Schuster’s corner to powerfully head the ball past Sippel in the FCK goal.

Balakov’s charges struggled to find their stride while Freiburg dropped deep, waiting for the chance to counter-attack. The visitors created their first chance on 22 minutes when Sahan sent a pin-point cross to Fortounis, but Baumann was on hand to parry the Greek’s 20-yard drive. The Red Devils fought their way into the game and slowly gained the upper hand midway through the half. De Wit fed Sahan on the edge of the penalty area, but the winger was unable to control the ball probably. FCK had more of the ball in the closing stages of the first half. Derstroff came within inches of pulling one back after a superb cross from De Wit, but Baumann ran out of his goal and performed heroics to deny the young striker’s attempt on 37 minutes. Tiffert tested Baumann with a shot from the right side, but the attempt posed no real threat to the SCF custodian.

The visitors restarted brightly and continued to push forward after the break. They came close to scoring when Derstroff hared towards the home goal leaving behind Ginter before firing a shot on goal, but Baumann pulled out a stunning reaction to parry the attempt. Caliguri ran down the wing to feed Freis in the six-yard box, but the striker’s effort flew wide. The hosts upped the heat a bit midway through the second half and Schmid forced a smart save from Sippel on 69 minutes.

Two minutes on from that, Krassimir Balakov brought on Jakub Swierczok for De Wit to beef up his side’s offensive unit. However, it was Freiburg who created the next chance, but Sippel performed heroics to deny Reisinger. With 15 minutes remaining, Itay Shechter replaced Fortounis. Sahan displayed a neat solo and appeared in front of Baumann’s goal after excellent work from Borysiuk, but the winger could not beat the SCF ‘keeper in the one-on-one. Freiburg protected their lead until the final whistle and picked up three points against the Red Devils on Matchday 27.