Well played and yet badly beaten: this is roughly how Freiburg’s performance in Leverkusen can be summarized. Michael Gregoritsch regretted a particular scene that could have completely changed the course of the game.
“We played against a very good team that was brutal in one-on-one duels and had the upper hand across almost the entire pitch,” said Leverkusen’s midfield boss Granit Xhaka on Sky, praising the Freiburg team’s performance, but then also said that his team had won “deservedly overall”. The Swiss player did not comment on the margin of victory, although he would probably not disagree with the suggestion that the 5-1 scoreline may have been a little harsh.
“If you go off the pitch with the result, it’s hard to say anything positive,” said Freiburg coach Julian Schuster, and then he did. Especially the early phase was “as we had imagined it.” Nevertheless, Schuster had also noticed that there had been situations in the course of the game “that we could have played better.” And then it just so happens that Bayer “is clinical when you give them a bit of space”.
Michael Gregoritsch’s verdict was similar. He also attributed the clear defeat to the enormous efficiency of the Werkself: “At the back, we were punished on every counterattack – 3:1, 4:1 and 5:1.”
However, the attacker was also annoyed about his own defensive behavior, pointing out that the 1:4 resulted from an “own throw-in in the offensive third” and “the 5:1 from a set piece. That must not happen to us if we want to get something here. If we want to keep the game open, then we have to at least defend in these situations and not concede goals.”
Gregoritsch regrets a referee decision
The Austrian did have one regret about a refereeing decision, though. In the 50th minute, there was a challenge between him and Edmond Tapsoba that referee Tobias Stieler allowed to continue. “I feel like Tapsoba only goes in the challenge for my body. I can’t see him coming in from the right, and when I get to the ball, I’m alone in front of goal. Ultimately, it would have been a penalty. I would have liked him to take a look again. I’m 1.95 meters tall and weigh 95 kilos, I don’t go down that easily.”
The Austrian also revealed that he spoke to the referee afterwards. ”He explained to me that he felt it wasn’t a foul. You have to respect that,” continued Gregoritsch, who explicitly described Stieler as a ‘very good referee’, but at the same time pointed out that in similar situations in midfield, a foul is often called. However, this did not happen in this case – he ‘accepted and respected that at that moment’.