Hamburger SV moved up to twelfth in the Bundesliga following a comprehensive victory away to Freiburg on Saturday afternoon. It was a game to forget for Freiburg keeper Olivier Baumann, whose three mistakes ultimately cost them the game and allowed Maxi Beister, Pierre-Michel Lasogga and Rafael Van der Vaart to score the goals that handed the points to the visitors.
Hamburg had been struggling to threaten the Freiburg goal and were left to try their luck from long range throughout the opening period with Pierre-Michel Lasogga coming close on numerous occasions. Lasogga had a fierce drive denied by Baumann before drilling a superb long strike off the base of the left hand post.
The best chances of what was a rather tame first half fell to Freiburg defensive midfielder Francis Coquelin but the youngster, on loan from Premier League side Arsenal, couldn’t direct his costless header from close range on target. That miss would prove to be costly as after 33 minutes, Hamburg were gifted the lead following an absolute howler from the Freiburg shot stopper Olivier Baumann. A long, hopeful punt up the pitch from the Hamburg rear guard looked to have been dealt with by Baumann until he inexplicably misjudged the bounce of the ball and could only look on in horror as the ball sailed over his head and into the path of Maxi Beister who made no mistake, tapping home from close range.
Worse was to come for the Frieburg faithful as shortly after the restart Baumann’s nightmare continued after he made yet another mistake that lead to Pierre-Michel Lasogga rolling Hamburg into a two goal lead. The goal was a crave and copy to the first as Baumann again failed to read the flight of the high ball in behind his defence and Lasogga couldn’t believe his luck as he was allowed to place the ball into the empty net. That goal killed the game off as a contest but Hamburg turned the result into a rout after 66 minutes as Van der Vaart neatly tucked the ball into the left corner after Baumann could only parry Beister’s powerful shot to seal an important victory for the visitors.