Early goals set Freiburg up for a cup win in Düsseldorf

SC Freiburg booked their place in the DFB-Pokal Round of 16 with a 3-1 win away at Düsseldorf.

Julian Schuster shuffled his squad for the cup action, but Freiburg had a blistering start in Düsseldorf. Having forced Florian Kastenmeier to a save 15 seconds after kickoff, Igor Matanović opened the scoring before the end of the first minute of the game. The ex-Frankfurt striker was the difference maker in his full debut for Freiburg.

And, five minutes later, Freiburg scored the second goal. Matanović played the role of providing the assist for Vincenzo Grifo’s straightforward finish. It was the 99th goal for the Italian winger in Freiburg colors.

The hosts restored the deficit in the 20th minute with their first attempt of the match. Anouar El Azzouzi, who has played every minute so far since joining the club in the summer, converted from close range after a header by Freiburg-born Kenneth Schimdt.

Markus Anfang had to make his first substitution right away as Danny Schmidt replaced Cedric Itten, who was involved in a head collision a few minutes earlier. Freiburg were the closest to the next goal before the half-time break, with decent chances for Matanović, Niklas Beste, Johan Manzambi, and Christian Günter.

Freiburg’s captain levelled record appearance maker Andreas Zeyer with his 440th match for the club. Düsseldorf only had a single shot on target in the opening 45 minutes. And Anfang was forced to make another substitution when Matthias Zimmermann needed a stretcher in the 53rd minute.

But they were also very close to leveling the score with Tim Oberdorf hitting the post before Florian Müller denied Freiburg loanee Florent Muslija early in the second-half.

Around the hour mark, Muslija and Schimdt combined well for a goal against their former club, but the center-back was in an offside position. Manzambi continued to cause trouble for the hosts, but they dominated the second-half in search of an equalizing goal.

On his return to the starting lineup after a serious injury, Shinta Appelkamp came the closest to doing so as the hosts enjoyed the majority of possession in the last ten minutes.

Freiburg sealed the win in the second minute of the injury-time with Kastenmeier caught in no man’s land while joining the attack for a corner-kick. Derry Scherhant scored with the goal at his mercy after a difficult half for the Bundesliga outfit.