Ginter praised after heroic comeback effort
Center-back Matthias Ginter played as a striker in the late stages of Freiburg's narrow DFB-Pokal win over St. Pauli due to several injuries suffered in the game.
Defensive stalwart Matthias Ginter was elbowed in the face by teammate Lukas Kübler and twisted his ankle in their Pokal match against St. Pauli. After the ankle injury, it looked like Freiburg would have to play with 10 men because manager Christian Streich had already used five substitutes.
Instead, Ginter gutted it out and moved into attack, dropping Nicolas Höfler back into center defense. Playing through the pain, Ginter scored and assisted to incredibly complete Freiburg's 2-1 comeback win. Following the game, the winning goal-scorer Michael Gregoritsch stated:
"(Ginter) reminded me of Bastian Schweinsteiger in the 2014 World Cup final with his laceration. He could hardly walk. - He's an outstanding player and an outstanding guy, incredibly important in the dressing room."
Ginter added: "Tomorrow everything will probably hurt like hell."