Soccer – Freiburg im Breisgau – Freiburg hopes for Petersen and old attack swing – sport

Freiburg (dpa / lsw) – Nils Petersen is one of the hopes of SC Freiburg when it comes to ending the recent lull in attacks. After his knee injury, the 32-year-old could be back in the squad for the first time in the Bundesliga club’s away game at Borussia Mönchengladbach on Sunday (5.30 p.m.). “When Nils sits on the bench, it gives us strength,” said coach Christian Streich, “he has the routes and the timing to get him to the end.”

This season, the SC scorer has only scored one goal – also due to injury breaks. It was the 2-1 winner in the game at Hertha BSC at the beginning of October – and, as is so often the case, a joker goal. “We definitely want to have him with us all the time,” stressed Streich on Friday. Petersen has been missing from the SC since the end of October. It is still unclear whether he can be back in the squad again in Gladbach. The decision will be made this Saturday, Streich announced.

If Petersen is in good shape, he will definitely bring with him what the sports club has lacked in the last few games: finishing strength. Streich’s team has lost three times in a row, but by no means disappointed in terms of play. But the effectiveness was missing.

This also applies to Vincenzo Grifo, who is still SC’s top scorer with three goals and five assists. The 28-year-old scored last with a penalty in his home win at the end of October against bottom of the table Fürth, but his four assists come from the last six games. In the most recent 2-1 defeat in Bochum, he set up Philipp Lienhart’s goal with a free kick and also prepared six scoring opportunities.

Grifo had also looked for happiness in Gladbach in the 2017/18 season, but did not find it. After stopping at Hoffenheim, he returned to Freiburg, where he has been most successful so far and also matured to become an Italian national player.

Streich had already said at the beginning of the season that Grifo, as an experienced player, had to go ahead and take responsibility. In this regard, he should be particularly challenged on Sunday at his ex-club. Because the unfortunate 1: 2 in Bochum recently “hit” the SC, as Streich put it: “We wanted to knock over the buck and would have stood out brilliantly with a win”.

But even after three defeats in a row, the sports club is in an excellent fourth place in the table thanks to the good start to the season. Streich’s team can look forward to the second best point yield after 13 games in their own Bundesliga season. The Freiburg team had only collected more than the 22 points at that time: in the 1994/95 season, when it was 23. At the time, the Breisgauer finished third – it is the best final placement in the Bundesliga so far.

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 211203-99-245373 / 3

– .