Freiburg returned to third in the Bundesliga with a 2–0 win over Union Berlin at Europa-Park Stadion on Sunday, 8 November. Rani Khedira’s own goal broke the deadlock after half-time and Yuito Suzuki added the second in the 67th minute of the Matchday 9 game, according to Freiburg’s report.
Frederik Rønnow kept Union level through the first half. He saved Suzuki’s left-footed shot and got down to turn away an Igor Matanović header that was heading towards the bottom corner. Freiburg repeatedly looked for their centre-forward with balls into the area, while goalkeeper Mio Backhaus had little to do as Union defended deep.
The first goal came when Niklas Beste delivered from the right and Suzuki put Khedira under pressure in front of goal. The Union midfielder turned the ball into his own net. Suzuki finished the next decisive move himself. Derry Scherhant recovered possession in Freiburg’s half and sent him through, and the Japanese forward lifted the ball over Rønnow.
Rønnow prevented a third by pushing substitute Vincenzo Grifo’s late penalty onto the post, as recorded in the Bundesliga match centre. This was Freiburg’s ninth match in four weeks. Julian Schuster had made four changes from the midweek game in Trabzon, bringing in Suzuki and Scherhant among others, the home club’s report notes.
Archival cover photograph: Europa-Park Stadion in Freiburg in an archival photograph; not from the current event. Photographer/creator: Andreas Schwarzkopf. Image source and metadata; CC BY-SA 4.0. Image date as recorded by source: 2021-10-17 15:33:48. Source file used without raster edits.
