This game saw Huub Stevens return for his “second coming” as some have called it as he once again was turned to by the Stuttgart board to save a club in crisis. His first spell at the club only began in March of this year after Thomas Schneider was relieved of his duties making Stevens their 3rd manager of the season after Bruno Labbadia was sacked back in the 1st month of the season. Stevens managed to save the Baden-Württemberg club, just, finishing 4th from bottom and he subsequently resigned after the final game.
It is probably true to say the club are in an even worse state now then when he arrived for the first time. They sit bottom of the table on 9 points from 12 games, 3 points adrift of safety and have lost their last 3 games. Whilst Freiburg have more stability in terms of their manager and board and the fact that they’re unbeaten in their last 4 they’re not much better off in the table, they have 12 points from 12 games and are only 1 point ahead of the Borussia Dortmund who are 3rd from bottom. A draw away to Mainz 05 last weekend saw their run of 3 straight victories come to an end.
The home fans saw their striker Sebastian Freis return to the line-up replacing Karim Guédé whilst Dani Schahin also returned from injury but he only made the bench. Sven Ulreich retained his place in goal for Stuttgart whilst both Daniel Schwaab and Chelsea loanee Oriol Romeu were suspended for this game and as a result Florian Klein and Carlos Gruezo were brought into the starting eleven. Stevens also made changes in the attacking side of things with Daniel Ginczek and Filip Kostić being replaced by Sercan Serarer and Timo Werner.
Stuttgart had the first opportunity of the game when Werner was brought down near the touch line giving Moritz Leitner the chance to deliver a dangerous ball into the crowded penalty area but his accuracy was poor and the costless-kick went high and wide. Freiburg replied in the 6th minute when they had 2 corners in quick succession, the first was cleared for another which was played short before being sent to Vladimír Darida on the edge of the box and his miscued shot nearly fell to the head of Admir Mehmedi but it was just in front of the Swiss striker.
Freiburg controlled most of the first half and actually had 59% possession through the whole 90 minutes. In the 13th minute Oliver Sorg ran down the right hand side before cutting in and just as Ulreich approached him; he slid the ball to Jonathan Schmid, but Klein blocked his first time shot before the ball was cleared away. The home side then had a glorious chance to take the lead when Felix Klaus laid the ball off for Marc Torrejón, who smashed goal wards and Sven Ulreich could only parry the ball into the path of Freis but the German striker sent his effort over from close range.
They were made to pay for that miss in the 30th minute when a Moritz Leitner corner was headed on by Antonio Rüdiger to Martin Harnik who managed to head home to give his side the lead against the run of play. They were then nearly gifted a second goal after Stefan Mitrović harmless back pass was missed by Bürki who was under pressure from Harnik but the Swiss goalie managed to recover and knocked the ball out for a corner which he gathered with ease. Harnik was then put through on his own 4 minutes later after rounding Torrejón but his shot went straight at Bürki who despite conceding 4 actually played quite well tonight.
In the 41st minute Darida got his side level in some style, he received the ball about 30 yards before shifting it to his right and unleashing a shot straight into the bottom corner leaving Ulreich with almost no time to move. They increased the pressure in the final few minutes of the half, Darida passed to Schmid inside the box and the Frenchman cut inside before his shot was parried by Ulreich to Felix Klaus but the 22 year old smacked the crossbar with his effort.
Clearly Stevens had a word with his players at half-time as they came out much more attacking in the 2nd half, within 7 minutes they had regained the lead courtesy of a Gruezo goal. Christian Gentner received the ball inside the box and cut inside before shooting, once again Ulreich parried and this time the ball came to the edge of the area and Gruezo thundered in to score. The goal was followed by a quiet spell of around 15 minutes that was only ended when Stuttgart added their 3rd of the night through young Timo Werner.
Mitrović was dispossessed in midfield, after coming out with the ball, which subsequently fell to Moritz Leitner who played it perfectly into Timo Werner’s path. He made an angled run inside before firing through Bürki’s legs. Around a minute or so after he had just given a goal away, Mitrović was sent off after Harnik beat both him and Torrejón with his run; before being brought down on the edge of the box by the Serbian defender, who was shown a straight a red for his actions.
Harnik then finished off the game with his 2nd on the night in the 76th minute. Neat play down the right led to Gentner passing to substitute Gotoku Sakai, whose cross-come-shot was going wide of the far post before Harnik reacted quickly to tap in. This well and truly took the sting out of Freiburg’s attacks as they concentrated on stopping more goals going in at the wrong end. There was one half chance when a cross found its way to Mehmedi, who tried to lift back across goal but it bounced off a defender for a corner which came to nothing.
Stuttgart did have a few late chances to well and truly round off the game, Adam Hloušek had a run down the left before shooting straight at the Freiburg keeper when he perhaps should’ve laid it across for his teammates and Sakai had another chance in the dying seconds but he put his attempt over from the edge of the box.