SC Freiburg enjoyed an excellent return to the Bundesliga after a one year absence as Christian Streich led his side to a seventh place finish and the Europa League. The end result from the season was better than anyone would have expected and ultimately their place in a European competition depended on Borussia Dortmund winning the cup. But Freiburg should be no less proud of their achievement after completing a solid, if unspectacular, season. Streich’s boys proved themselves adept at winning games against sides from the bottom half of the table, but they struggled against the better teams in the league. They only collected seven points from sides that finished above them in the table all season long. Away from home Streich’s side were also not especially impressive collecting only 16 points. But at home they were very tough to beat and it was ultimately their form in the Schwarzwald Stadion which saw them over the line in the race for seventh spot.
Although the club’s results this season have not been overly impressive, Freiburg were able to benefit from a handful of excellent performances. It was mainly their attacking players who proved to be especially impressive this term with wingers Maximilian Philipp and Florian Niederlechner two of those to stand out. Both found the net 8 times and Philipp also added a total of 9 assists. While Niederlechner has only just signed long term with the club, Philipp is being scouted by a number of bigger sides in Germany and abroad. Nils Petersen also had an unstated but fine season, scoring 21 goals in total. Most impressive, however, was Italian winger Vincenzo Grifo who was the second top scorer with 14 and highest assist provider with 11. He has already been poached by Borussia Mönchengladbach which is a problem Streich is likely to have with other players as well. The veteran coach will hope to keep as much of the squad together as possible for what will be a challenging season next year. But it already appears that some significant rebuilding will likely need to be done.
