Narrow victory for Freiburg

Freiburg posted a narrow 1-0 win over Greuther Furth to leave the Bundesliga debutants rooted to the foot of the table.

Freiburg posted a narrow 1-0 win over Greuther Furth to leave the Bundesliga debutants rooted to the foot of the table approaching the midway stage of the season. Daniel Caligiuri's 15th-minute strike was enough to earn Christian Streich's side all three points at the Dreisamstadion and take them up to eighth, just two points behind fourth-placed Schalke. Rock-bottom Furth were punished for a negative approach to the game, with their late rally proving to be too little to prevent their 10th defeat of the season. The game took a while to get going in freezing conditions in the Black Forest, but it was the home team who found their feet first. They took the lead in the 15th minute through Caligiuri, who was given far too much time to turn on the edge of the area and pick his spot beyond Wolfgang Hesl. Furth remained packed inside their own half, trying to block Freiburg's advances without risking an attack of their own. As the minutes ticked down, a Furth onslaught was expected, but it failed to arrive as Freiburg continued to look comfortable in possession. The Bavarians finally abandoned their defensive tactics and were almost rewarded with an equaliser in the 82nd minute, but Pavel Krmas covered for his goalkeeper Oliver Baumann and turned Christopher Nothe's goalbound shot onto the post. The scare sparked Freiburg back into action and they had the last few shots of the game as they kept Furth at a safe distance from their goal until the final whistle sounded.