A stunning strike from Franco di Santo was enough to separate the sides at the Schwarzwald-Stadion. There was no lack of chances, though Roman Bürki and Raphael Wolf were both in superb form and meant the Argentine's solitary first-half strike secured the three points.

Christian Streich and his side continued their cup run during the week, picking up a deserved win over 1. FC Köln. Attentions were quickly shifted back to their league campaign. They knew that a win would be massive, after fellow strugglers Hertha BSC and VfB Stuttgart drew 0-0 on Friday evening. Streich made two changes to the side that won on Tuesday, brining in Oliver Sorg for Mensur Mujdza and Felix Klaus for Dani Schahin.

It was a vastly different cup game for Werder Bremen and Victor Skripnik, who were dumped out by high-flying 3. Liga leaders Ariminia Bielefeld. The Ukrainian coach decided to freshen up his team; Raphael Wolf, Philipp Bargfrede and Levin Öztunali all started, as Koen Casteels, Felix Kroos and Davie Selke dropped to the bench.

Freiburg, after affording Zlatko Junuzovic multiple dead-ball opportunities, survived the early Bremen onslaught and went in search of an opener. They very nearly had it too, as Vladimir Darida's deflected volley whistled wide of Wolf's upright.

Wolf was soon called into action and he made a crucial save to stop his side from going behind. Jonathan Schmid collected a hopeful long ball and drove toward goal, but his well-struck attempt was turned around the post by the Werder stopper.

The game looked to be meandering to the break with little to shout about for either set of fans, until Franco di Santo emphatically opened the scoring. The Argentine picked the ball up on the corner of the box, shifted onto his right foot and sent a curling shot into the far top corner. It was his twelfth goal of the season and left Roman Bürki grasping at thin air, as he began celebrating with the Bremen bench.

There was one last chance for the hosts before the half-time whistle. Sorg hammered a volley at goal, it swerved, dipped and was just turned away by a scrambling Wolf before the Northerners managed to scramble the ball to safety.

Levin Öztunali almost doubled the visitors' lead in the minutes following the break, although a strong save from Bürki prevented his long-range effort from sneaking in at the near post.

Substitute Marc-Oliver Kempf had a rare chance to draw his side level, but the summer signing headed just over the bar from Schmid's cross. Another sub Cedric Makiadi had a similar effect after coming on and his shot was well saved by Bürki.

Time was running out for the home side and just when it looked like they'd found a route back into the game, Wolf pulled off a terrific save to keep out Schmid's free-kick. Further chances fell the way of both sides, with Wolf denying Admir Mehmedi with a world-class stop and Makiadi wasting another good chance.

However, despite their late efforts, Freiburg remain seventeenth and could find themselves even further from safety should Paderborn pick up points against Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday. As for Bremen, they keep up faint hopes of a possible European place. Though, unlike Freiburg, they'll hope that Paderborn can pick up three points at the Benteler-Arena.