With Eintracht Frankfurt's 1-0 loss to Mönchengladbach on Friday night, Saturday's FC Nürnberg-SC Freiburg clash became extremely tantalizing as an away win for Freiburg would lead to a tie for the final Champions League spot in the Bundesliga between Freiburg and Frankfurt. Sporting a win over Mönchengladbach and three straight draws as their recent run of form Nürnberg were looking to keep their unbeaten streak rolling, making a win and a jump into fourth place no easy task for Freiburg. However after a late thrilling win in the Pokal over Mainz, Freiburg had to be brimming with confidence fancying their chances to add to what has been a magical season for the usual Bundesliga underdogs.
With Freiburg scoring two goals in added time in the reverse fixture earlier this season to seal a 3-0 win, this game had the potential to be another tight affair. Nürnberg dominated the possession in that fixture 60-40, but just could not penetrate Freiburg and suffered an early season loss.Streich's men starting brightly
Freiburg started the game out on the offensive foot, winning four consecutive corners in the opening six minutes. Max Kruse got the first shot on goal, but Freiburg failed to convert their set piece opportunities into chances early in this match, as Nürnberg began to defend corners/free kicks spectacularly from the get go. Nürnberg got their early chance themselves when Hanno Balitsch broke through for a header in the 18th minute. Tomas Pekhart put the ball in the net for Nurnberg shortly after, but was called for a foul on the play to wrap up the opening part of the fixture.
A very sloppy first half of football between the two was symbolized by the game's opening goal. An unfortunate heading clearance from Freiburg resulted in Cedric Makiadi handling the ball in the penalty area, giving Nurnberg a penalty chance. Timmy Simons made no mistake from the spot and the hosts went up 1-0 in a half where neither team really deserved to be in the lead going into the dressing room.
In the second half Freiburg started to see more of the ball, making counters and crosses into the box and failing to get the final part of the attack together for most of the match. Nürnberg was defending well and Freiburg were held to four shots all game, but closing into the final fifteen minutes of the match Freiburg were seeing more chances, Jan Rosenthal missed a volley on a beautifully chipped through ball from Daniel Caligiuri that seemed like it might have been Freiburg's chance to salvage the point.
Luckily for Freiburg, Jonathan Schmid made a hustle play to poach home a rebound in the 82nd minute and gave Freiburg the equalizer they were so close to getting through the entire second half. The Breisgau Brazilians have now closed the gap to Eintracht Frankfurt to a mere two points, whilst Nürnberg extended their unbeaten streak to five games with their fourth straight draw in what was a game that teetered on the line of boring and sloppy for much of the ninety minutes.
Where Der Club earned their one point was in the heart department. Drawing against Bayern München and Borussia Dortmund at home this season Nürnberg's defensive core knows how to defend their home pitch and were up for the challenge this afternoon. 33 tackles to Freiburg's 24 exemplifies their hunger for getting after the ball and they stifled Freiburg's counter attacks in the midfield all game. If a Freiburg player had the ball in Nürnberg's midfield they were either being challenged for the ball or they were being fouled. They didn't keep possession all game, in fact 39% made winning the ball and keeping it a different story, but they made their eighteen yard box a fortress.
Hanno Balitsch and Per Nilsson were the top ball winners for Nürnberg. According to whoscored.com Balitsch made six tackles and Nillson led the game with an impressive seven. But Nürnberg's most impressive work was done in the air, as Freiburg was held to a 46% success rate on aerial balls and went seven corner kicks without much of a chance from them.
With only 39% possession and held in their own half of the pitch for much of the second half, Der Club needed an inspired performance and they got one. It was the difference from their 3-0 away loss to Freiburg in October and getting a draw at home in this game. Losing two of the three points was surely a disappointment for the Nürnberg supporters, but they didn't truly deserve a win over a Freiburg who had outplayed their team rather well at times, making the draw a fair result which should be taken as a positive for a side that has gotten points in their last five games.
The only thing that held Freiburg back from getting the three points was a freakish bounce of a clearance that hit Makaidi's hands that were a solid eight feet in the air outstretched over his head. Simons had no troubles beating Oliver Baumann from the spot and Nürnberg got a 1-0 lead that they did well to hold onto for the majority of the game.
Makaidi also picked up a yellow on a hard challenge in the 44th minute in what was an up and down game for the central midfielder. He picked up three tackles and four interceptions in the midfield and was one of Freiburg's hardest working players during his 77 minutes on the pitch, however the yellow card and the handball will overshadow an otherwise solid performance from the 29 year old midfielder.
As mentioned previously, Nürnberg's defensive clinic inside of their box was crucial to securing the point. Nürnberg's success was Freiburg's dismay as their inability to find someone on the other end of their crosses prevented them from equalizing for much of the second half. Freiburg could not catch Nürnberg on the counter attack, and once around the box could not find the space to create much of a threat towards the Nürnberg goal. Four shots on target and 46% on their aerial passes show this, with 61% possession Freiburg spent an awful lot of it trying to figure out how to penetrate Nürnberg's backline.
Nothing showed this more than the opening six minutes of the game, when Nürnberg defended four straight corners in succession at a juncture of the game where Freiburg could have pulled the plug on Nürnberg's hopes of a result with a goal in the first ten minutes. Nothing came from them, and Nürnberg defended every free kick, corner and cross from that point on. Eventually Schmid's hard run on Schäfer's unfortunate parry made up for Freiburg's failures on crosses, but for 83 minutes Der Club was unsolvable and it had a lot to do with Freiburg's lack of punch from crosses.
While Freiburg can hold their heads high that they avoided a loss late, this game will ultimately be a missed opportunity for the fifth placed side that they can't afford. Hungry to play in Europe next season and with the Europa League and actual shot with now ten games left, Freiburg can't avoid to leave points on the table when they go into pitches they can win at.
Der Club has had a very successful year at home with the aforementioned Bayern/Dortmund draws at their Bavarian headquarters, but this is a team that Freiburg had already beat earlier in the season and having 61% possession should expect to be able to get two goals on. Nürnberg kept them from getting any success on their aerial attacks (46% success rate) and Freiburg wasted chances on free kicks and corners that they needed to find a way to convert on with the way Nurnberg was defending.
It was a tough task and a draw is by no means the end of the world for Freiburg, but failing to get the three points is about more than a temporary chance to fantasize about finishing fourth. It is about staying in Europe with a streaking Schalke and Mönchengladbach on everyone's heels to come into the final ten games of the season, teams like Freiburg will need to win against the bottom table teams if they are going to avoid being kicked out of those Europa League positions. With the difficulty of Freiburg's final ten games this is even more crucial.
Away fixtures to both Dortmund and Bayern as well as two very crucial fixtures at home to Gladbach/Schalke make for four very harrowing fixtures in Freiburg's final ten. In fifth place Freiburg clearly has now made their ambitions for the season to finish in Europe, with the four teams that finished in the top four last season Freiburg is going to be in tough to do so if points against those teams are made vital.
Which is why draws against teams like Nürnberg hurt their cause. Freiburg can afford losses away to Dortmund and Bayern if they are getting points against the bottom table clubs, a few more draws to teams like Der Club and losses in their four toughest games of the season and you can see the Cinderella story of Freiburg turning into Friday the 13th very fast. Points when they host Wolfsburg next Saturday would be huge to being able to chase top four while facing three of the Bundesliga's more talented sides and a Gladbach side that is on the up.
Via: [Live Football] Derby County - Leicester City - English Npower Championship
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