Hannover pick up point in Freiburg

SC Freiburg 1-1 Hannover 96

Goals: 1-0 Waldschmidt (pen. 3'), 1-1 Felipe (14')

Defeats at the weekend — 2-0 to Fortuna Düsseldorf for the hosts and 4-0 to Bayern Munich for their opponents — were hardly ideal preparation, but the duo settled surprisingly quickly. Freiburg had beaten RB Leipzig handsomely in their previous home game, and when Waldemar Anton literally handed them an early penalty that Luca Waldschmidt converted, their fans must have been dreaming of a repeat performance. Nils Petersen might have added a second, but Hannover — the league's bottom team — showed resolve as Felipe soon levelled from a corner.

Robin Koch's effort just before half-time was ruled out for offside, and the relief was Freiburg's when Hendrik Weydandt's header thumped off the crossbar less than a minute after the restart. USA international Bobby Wood was denied by Alexander Schwolow in a one-on-one duel as Hannover sought — in vain — to end their 21-game wait for an away win, but the point did take them off the bottom of the table.

• Freiburg have lost only one of their last eight home matches – a 3-1 defeat against Mainz on November 10.
• Freiburg are unbeaten in six at home to Hannover (two wins, four draws) dating back to a 3-1 loss in April 2011.
• Nils Petersen currently has 37 Bundesliga goals for Freiburg. One more will take him past Papiss Demba Cisse to leave him the club’s outright top scorer in the top flight.
• Hannover are unbeaten in six against Freiburg in the Bundesliga (three wins, three draws), which is currently their longest run against any team.
• Breitenreiter’s side have won just one of their last nine league games and are without a win in 21 on the road since a Niclas Füllkrug brace gave them a 2-1 victory at Augsburg in October 2017.
• Wood netted the fastest goal of this season and Hannover’s fastest ever since detailed data collection began when he last started an away game (21 seconds at Borussia Mönchengladbach).

Freiburg: Schwolow - Stenzel (Niederlechner 72'), Gulde, Heintz, C. Günter - Haberer, Koch - Frantz (c), Terrazzino (Höler 46') - Waldschmidt (Gondorf 88') - Petersen
Unused subs: Flekken, Lienhart, Kammerbauer, Ravet
Out: Borrello (knee), Höfler (knee), Kath (stomach), Sallai (adductors)
Coach: Christian Streich

Hannover: Esser - Sorg, Anton (c), Felipe - Haraguchi, Schwegler, Walace, Albornoz - Muslija (Maina 74') - Weydandt (Hadzic 80'), Wood (Bakalorz 90+2')
Unused subs: Tschauner, Elez, Ostrzolek, Wimmer
Out: Hübers (knee), Sarenren Bazee (concussion)
Coach: Andre Breitenreiter