Matanovic’s late brace seals derby delight for Freiburg

The Breisgauers’ summer signing came off the bench to score twice in a 3-1 win over VfB Stuttgart.

Julian Schuster demanded an upturn in efforts from his players and he got it in spades this afternoon as Freiburg left it late to come from behind to win in the south-west derby. It was a marked improvement on their previous efforts, albeit no shooting opportunities materialised for either side in the opening exchanges. 

However it was Sebastian Hoeneß’ men who opened the scoring in spectacular fashion in the 20th-minute. Jamie Leweling crossed centrally for Ermedin Demirovic. Holding off the defender, a tidy backheel had just enough fizz to beat Atubolu and creep inside the lower left post. 

Whistles rang out from the terraces full of disgruntled Breisgauers at the Europa-Park Stadion. That seemed to instill some sort of hunger in their players as Johan Manzambi’s deflected effort almost deceived Nübel, but the Swabians took their advantage into the dressing rooms and catch their breath. 

Freiburg, reluctant to lose this south-west derby, came close to an equaliser as Lukas Kübler battled for possession with Leweling before fizzing a shot past the Stuttgart goal. Manzambi also looked threatening but Angelo Stiller intervened with a crucial tackle to snap any Breisgau momentum. 

Schuster pulled off a tactical masterstroke with a little over 10 minutes remaining to drag themselves level. Igor Matanovic, making his German topflight debut since joining from Eintracht Frankfurt, managed to flick Kübler’s cross inside the left upright and beyond the fingertips of the sprawling Nübel.

Unbridled joy in the stands followed past 87th-minute as Freiburg broke upfield as Manzambi weaved his way through the tackles to feed Derry Scherhant. His initial strike was batted away by Nübel, but the rebound returned in his favour to plunge the ball into the roof of the net. 

The comeback was set in stone in the final minute of normal time as Finn Jeltsch fouled Manzambi in the box. Matanovic wasted no time in stepping up to the spot and sending Nübel the wrong way from the penalty spot. Perhaps the only blot on their copybook came from Manzambi’s red card at the death who caught Ramon Hendriks on the head with his raised studs.