Overview

• Vincenzo Grifo converted a hand penalty in the 33rd minute, Junior Adamu doubled the lead on 54, and a Karim Coulibaly own goal on 75 sealed Freiburg’s win.
• Romano Schmid had a chance to pull one back from the spot at 0:2 but Noah Atubolu saved, giving the Freiburg goalkeeper a Bundesliga record of five consecutive penalty saves.
• Analysts highlighted Freiburg’s uncommon 4-3-2-1 ‘Tannenbaum’ shape that crowded the middle and forced ineffective wide play from Werder.
• Captain Marco Friedl said the team “deserved to lose,” coach Horst Steffen voiced disappointment, and sporting director Peter Niemeyer warned they cannot afford to ease off.
• The defeat comes a week after Werder’s 4:0 at Mönchengladbach and precedes a challenging trip to Bayern Munich on Friday.