Two brilliant deeds: Ginter defies the festival of mistakes
Warnings recommending the wearing of hearing protection would certainly be appropriate in the stadium in Piraeus. When the curve of the Olympiakos supporters strikes up their battle cries and the whole stadium pulls along, the medically recommended decibel limit is easily exceeded. As in the 3-0 win last year, SC Freiburg seemed to be concerned about the health of the spectators on Thursday evening, as the otherwise vocal Greek crowd fell silent for long stretches of the game because of what was happening on the pitch.
The first half of the game is titled Error Festival. Vincenzo Grifo opens the scoring in the sixth minute. In his own penalty area, he plays the ball right into the opponent’s foot. Matthias Ginter saves on the line against Ayoub El Kaabi. The scene is symbolic of the 3-2 victory. Because both clubs made mistakes on the assembly line, but Freiburg ironed out his more often. “You could tell today that the spirit was right. Even if a mistake happened, even if something didn’t work, we threw everything into it and tried to make up for the mistake,” Ginter describes.
Schimdt’s understanding of justice
Just three minutes later, Nicolas Freire made the biggest mistake with a back pass that was too short – Roland Sallai took advantage of the situation to open the scoring. However, Kenneth Schmidt seems to find it difficult to reconcile the goal with his understanding of justice and sends out the identical invitation in injury time in the first half. The difference: Olympiakos does not accept them.
“It was unusual for three mistakes like that to happen in the first half, two on our side. I can’t explain it exactly,” Streich puzzles. After conceding nine goals against Stuttgart (0-5) and Dortmund (2-4), Freiburg’s backline is still looking for the usual stability. While Philipp Lienhart is still missing it, at least Ginter has shown his best game so far this season (kicker grade 1.5) and held together the ever-wobbly defense. Detailed hymns of praise for individual players are rarely heard from pranks after games. But he said it all in three words late at night in Piraeus: “Ginter, really good!”
Ginter clears a second time in front of the line
The 29-year-old radiated calm and sovereignty and presented himself with quick thought. The best example: With the score at 2-2, he saves again in the final phase on the line behind the already beaten goalkeeper Noah Atubolu. Only after the end of the scene does the referee decide on offside. However, Ginter’s return to his old strength alone is not enough to certainly score points again in everyday Bundesliga life. “We have our issues at the moment, especially on the outside they were able to hit too many flanks today, as well as the set-pieces. Conceding a goal from a corner is a bit of a drag on throughout the season. It’s up to all of us to defend our opponents as best we can until the ball is cleared,” Ginter stressed.