Noah Atubolu sets new Freiburg record against Leipzig
The two sides came into the game with contrasting forms. While RB Leipzig’s weak league showing put Marco Rose in danger of losing his job, Julian Schuster has been praised for maintaining SC Freiburg’s ascend post-Christian Streich.
And, at the half-time break, it was the hosts who came away with the only positive after a rather eventless first-half. Following in Augsburg’s Finn Dahmen’s footsteps (or gloves), Noah Atubolu became the first Freiburg keeper to go more than 510 minutes without conceding a Bundesliga goal.
The young goalkeeper, who already made a name for himself with three successive penalty saves, broke the previous record set by Richard Golz in the 2001/02 season. However, both defensive lines made the lives of their respective goalkeepers easier as we were only treated with half chances for 45 minutes.
Rose and Schuster made half-time changes with Amadou Haidara and Vincenzo Grifo entering the scene. Just like the first 45’, the Breisgau enjoyed the majority of possession, but Leipzig created relatively better in the final third.
However, as the game heads into the final 30 minutes, the first big chance of the night went in Freiburg’s way. Lukas Höler’s header was blocked by Péter Gulácsi following Grifo’s trademark free-kick delivery.
Leipzig immediately responded with their own set-piece play. Raum’s cross found RB’s captain Willi Orban, but he couldn’t test Atubolu. Leipzig continued their late surge to secure three points in the final 20 minutes.
Lutsharel Geertruida came very close to breaking the deadlock, but his ambitious effort flew narrowly over. Boosted by his recent goal-scoring exploits, Freiburg’s Kiliann Sildillia also tried his luck from range.
Ritsu Dōan had another decent game, but he could’ve done more to test Gulácsi ten minutes from time when the customary Christian Günter-Grifo partnership puts him in a good shooting position.
There was one more chance in injury-time for Leipzig. Yussuf Poulsen and Castello Lukeba probed to steal a late winner, but Atubolu remained focused to see out his sixth clean sheet in a row.
The draw means Freiburg keep their two-point lead over their visitors. Meanwhile, no team won a home game in the Bundesliga since February 23. Earlier in the day, the matchday saw Bayern, Dortmund and Leverkusen lose home games on the same matchday for the first time since 2007.
