An early goal made it 1-0: Hoffenheim’s David Raum scored against Freiburg.
imago pictures / beautiful sports

It was the third minute in a row when Raum from the left wing pulled the run again and Monas Dabur’s ball was cleverly passed by Lukas Kobler of Freiburg through an outside comb. Raum later described the scene on Sky’s microphone: “I can see my midfield defense is not getting out of me.” “Then I went a little longer.” Until the national player finally stood in front of SC goalkeeper Mark Let it be and took the measurements. “I was lying on my side so much that I thought to myself: I’m going to be encouraged.” Really. Seconds later, his left-footed shot hit the far corner for an early lead.

With this in the back, TSG played bravely and safely on the ball, and SC had problems – but conceded a corner kick after just a quarter of an hour. “We felt a little bit of nothing for us,” said Hoffenheim coach Sebastian Hoeness. Then he saw a match “at eye level” and in the second round finally “wear out”, in which goalkeeper Oliver Bowman – under a long-term contract during the week – kept his team in the match with a penalty kick saved. “It’s of course a great achievement for my first,” Hoeneß said. After that, his team made the best stage, but either without the necessary breakthrough power or luck in the end.

I don’t see any control, we are ahead of today’s match.

So it took until injury time before Raum could boast of another goal. This time as a template from the corner flag. Chris Richards crossed a header into the net to make it 2-1, which saw TSG pass Freiburg in the table and is now fourth. When asked about his pre-match statement (“it’s about superiority”), Hoeness replied a little backward: “Maybe I came in too thick. I don’t see any superiority, we’re ahead of the match today.”

And now his team Leverkusen is expected in the new third place on Wednesday. “We will prepare well for this,” Raum declared. “But now we are enjoying the win here in Freiburg for the first time.”