St. Pauli wins in Freiburg

FC St. Pauli achieved its first win since returning to the Bundesliga. Hamburg won 3-0 (2-0) at SC Freiburg and inflicted the hosts' second defeat of the season. In a game that the sports club controlled for long stretches, Elias Saad (12th minute/72nd) and Oladapo Afolayan (45th) scored for Hamburg out of nowhere.

Goalkeeper Nikola Vasilj also played a large part in the next success story after the remarkable performance in the 0-0 draw against Champions League participants RB Leipzig. The 28-year-old repeatedly parried brilliantly – including the penalty kick from the otherwise safe SC shooter Vincenzo Grifo (41st). Freiburg's supposed follow-up goals from Philipp Lienhart and Ritsu Doan were not recognized due to offside positions (63'/85').

In front of 34,700 spectators, the presenters had more of the game and had more than 70 percent possession of the ball in the first ten minutes. But the guests took the lead. Saad prevailed against two defenders and also left goalkeeper Noah Atubolu no chance to defend.

The Breisgauers are already used to falling behind this season. Only last Saturday at 3:0 a.m. in Heidenheim did coach Julian Schuster's team not have to catch up. Vasilj defused a first approach attempt with a free kick from Vincenzo Grifo (16th).

“We don’t want to invest a percentage point less than in the game against Leipzig,” Pauli coach Alexander Blessin had previously warned. “We have shown with our performance that we can keep up very well.” This now needs to be confirmed.”

Even after Saad's goal, his team rarely had the ball. Overall, Hamburg were compact in a hard-fought game. The defenders repeatedly headed or threshed crosses from Grifo or SC captain Christian Günter out of the danger zone.

Self-placed St. Pauli isolated needle stitches. A free kick from Eric Smith hit the crossbar (35'). Matthias Ginter saw the yellow card in the making. On the other side, the Freiburg defender who had moved up went down in the penalty area. Video assistant Katrin Rafalski intervened and after the impartial Timo Gerach watched the replay himself, he decided on a penalty. Grifo was denied by Vasilj and missed the equalizer (41').

Things were to get even worse for the sports club before the break. After a cross, Afolayan got the ball and increased the score for the effective guests, who scored two goals in the first half with two shots on goal.

Both coaches reacted during the break and made one substitution each. Freiburg remained the more active team. But Schuster's players still can't think of enough to put the neighborhood club in serious trouble. Two shots from Patrick Osterhage sailed over the goal. It was fitting for Freiburg's spent afternoon that Lienhart's header goal was taken back. Rafalski once again gave a hint.

Saad makes the decision with an individual performance. When the offensive player scored his second goal, Atubolu didn't look good either. The goalkeeper unfortunately let the ball slip through. Five minutes before the end, Doan turned away in celebration, but again it was ruled offside.