Hütter admits his team shouldn't have been awarded early penalty in Freiburg match
There was quite a bit to unpack after the six-goal thriller between Freiburg and Gladbach.
Interestingly enough, the post-match talk after a wild finish centered around the first of the match's six goals; a handball penalty awarded to the foals in the 3rd minute.
Interestingly enough, the post-match talk after a wild finish centered around the first of the match's six goals; a handball penalty awarded to the foals in the 3rd minute.
| Adi Hütter. | Photo: Borussia Mönchengladbach/OneFootball |
Freiburg captain and German national team fullback Christian Günter scored the 2-2 and assisted on the 3-2. Speaking to the Sky mics after the full-time whistle, the skipper admitted that the emotional letdown of the end left him feeling gutted.
"It feels very much like a defeat," Günter noted, "It hurts so much that we couldn't reward ourselves for playing catch up."
Defensive midfielder Nicolas Höfler took a similar view. For the player who conceded the first goal via a handball penalty and missed a mark on the second, the team still deserved credit for fighting back after "two stupid actions" that left them trailing by two goals 13 minutes in.
"We played a good game and just needed to get it over the line," Höfler noted, shaking his head while adding, "those two stupid actions."
The first so-called "stupid action" was actually a controversial handball penalty involving Höfler in the opening minute. The SCF midfielder got rather harshly whistled.
"My arm was already stretched out on the ground," Höfler remarked, "It was meant to be a support hand. The referee [Benjamin Brand] said 'there no longer is such a thing'."
Gladbach trainer Adi Hütter actually agreed with Höfler and expressed his sympathy.
"That's a completely natural movement," Hütter conceded afterwards, "One can't do anything about it. I'm sorry for Freiburg. It's very annoying to get a penalty like that against you."
A controversial tally notwithstanding, the final scoreline recorded three goals for each team. Freiburg missed out on an opportunity to draw level on points with RB Leipzig, who lost their first game since February against Union Berlin, for the fourth Champions' League spot. Union and Köln, in turn, inch closer to Freiburg with their respective victories.
"We have to look in both directions," Höfler aptly summarized when asked about the state of the table, "The goal has to be that we don't lose any more ground."