Matchday 20- Bayer 04 v SC Freiburg: Chance of flurries

In football, every streak comes to an end.

-SC Freiburg Coach Robin Dutt, ahead of today’s match at BayArena

To Dutt’s credit, it takes a solid pair to stand up in front of reporters, squad hugging the bottom of the table, headed into battle with the league leaders, and make such a bold implication. No doubt Dutt wasn’t suggesting it was Leverkusen’s time to lose so much as he was trying to convince everyone that it was Freiburg’s turn to win. But without a victory since November, Freiburg could have saved the rhetoric for a match that didn’t see them paired against a crushing offence on the home turf of the league’s only undefeated squad.

A brief digression here. As I write, I am at war with strep throat and have limited energy, alternating chills and hot flashes, general malaise and what feels like a burr lodged down my throat and a severed toe deep in my left ear. For those reasons, this will be an abbreviated match report. Should the bug get the better of me, I hereby bequeath my Bayer 04 shirts to Wendy and my collection of rare slimes to FC Bayern. Now on to happier things.

Freiburg had more bite than I was expecting from them through the first half. They played strongly forward, even after giving up the first chance of the match to Stefan Kießling just ten minutes in. Freiburg were quick to strike back and Rene Adler was forced twice in rapid succession to keep us from going behind- first coming well off his line to shut down Du-Ri Cha, then narrowly averting an opening goal from Mohamadou Idrissou. So narrowly, in fact, that you’ll undoubtedly hear more than one FC Freiburg supporter swear it should have counted.

The scrappy opening from Freiburg might have implied we were all in for a heckuva show. Some end-to-end, hard-fought kinda football. But on the 36-minute mark everything changed.

Kieß picked up a cross from Barnetta and headed it past Freiburg ‘keeper Simon Pouplin for the opener. Before the celebrations had faded from that goal, Pouplin played a backpass straight to the lethal foot of Eren Derdiyok, who in turn fired the ball straight back from 15 metres for a 2:0 lead. The only uglier turn for Freiburg at that point would have been for them to give up a corner. Ooops.

And so on the 40th minute a cross from Toni Kroos into the Freiburg box was hammered into the back of the net by the head of Sami Hyypiä who, clearly no longer content with being a huge factor in our success at the back, now has gone two matches contributing to our attack as well. How’re things looking over where you are, Liverpool?

Within five minutes, three were scored and the brave face Freiburg had put on until that point was rather ferociously mauled off. Although Felix Bastians brought some pride back for the visitors with a lovely 66th minute consolation goal, the Werkself gave no more leeway than that. Either the pace of the match changed at that point to a slower, defensive tact, or I began fading to the medication. Whichever the case, there is little I can say.

Augusto got to work his legs for a few and Lars Bender came on for Vidal in the first of two added minutes. Meanwhile, as the clock counted down to the Werkself’s 20th unbeaten, the cameras cut to a dejected looking Patrick Helmes, stretching on the posts, snow falling around him.

Maybe next week, Coach?

And so back to the top we go. Next week we head to Bochum for a Saturday morning match. At the same time, FCB will be visiting Wolfsburg and so the tilt of the see-saw will come down to how we play rather than when. But before all that, I need to put up the Victory Beard and go give my tonsils a Bourbon rinse….

Category: Bayer Leverkusen Team News