Defeat in Freiburg

Match report: 

VfB Stuttgart lost 2-0 away at SC Freiburg on Matchday 20 of the Bundesliga, leaving the side 17th in the table. Pellegrino Matarazzo's charges defended well initially, but were unfortunate to see a penalty awarded to them after a foul on Alexis Tibidi overturned by VAR in the 36th minute. Just seconds after the reviewed decision, VfB fell behind after a long-range shot from Nicolas Höfler deflected off Hiroki Ito and into the Stuttgart net.

In the second half, VfB pressed for an equaliser but were unable to seriously threaten the home side’s goal. Freiburg maintained their structure and doubled their lead 18 minutes from time, capitalising on the counter-attack following some lax VfB defending, with Kevin Schade's goal effectively ending the tie. 

Goals: 

37th minute: Ito deflects a long-range shot by Höfler past a helpless Florian Müller. Freiburg break the deadlock, 1-0.

72nd minute: Freiburg counter and VfB defend poorly. Ermedin Demirovic heads the ball into the path of Schade, who lashes past Müller. 

Post-match reaction:

Pellegrino Matarazzo: "We started the game well. The penalty decision and the goal they scored moments after it was disallowed was the turning point. We didn't recover well from that phase and didn't handle it well. We can only look at ourselves there. In the second half, we tried to be more of a threat by pressing higher up, but then we conceded the second goal all too softly. All in all, it wasn't a good game from us. We’ll work in a focused manner next week in the training camp so that we do better in our next few games." 

Sasa Kalajdzic: "Overall, we didn't do enough. Everyone has to ask themselves what they can do better. I tried to up my level, but I also made mistakes. I gave the ball away in the run-up to their first goal. I can't do that. We have to pick ourselves up and use the time we have until the next game to improve."