Saturday 10th August 2013
Once I’d established a few days ago that tickets were available for this top-flight game, there was really no need to look elsewhere for a Saturday afternoon fixture. It was certainly worth the effort to once again sample the unique atmosphere of a top-flight Bundesliga game inside a modern stadium with what I consider a rather impressive roof. My ticket in block F4, booked online with print@home, put me among a group of predominantly Freiburg fans who ultimately went home despondent after their side lost 3-1 to an impressive Leverkusen side. Managed by ex-Liverpool defender Sami Hyypiä, the home side took the lead through a looping Stefan Kießling header but Mike Hanke levelled for Freiburg shortly before the interval. By the time the second half was nine minutes old, Leverkusen had scored twice through Korean Heung-Min Son and Sidney Sam. The visitors had a penalty saved and this ended their hopes of salvaging a point.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen 3 SC Freiburg 1
1. Bundesliga
At: Bay Arena
Kick-off: 3-30 pm
Admission: 23 euro seat; Programme: free (84 A4 pages)
Weather: warm and sunny
Bayer 04 Leverkusen (red/red/red): 1. Bernd Leno, 21. Ömer Toprak, 5. Emir Spahić, 26. Giulio Donati, 17. Sebastian Boenisch, 18. Sidney Sam, 8. Lars Bender (capt), 3. Stefan Reinartz, 27. Gonzalo Castro, 11. Stefan Kießling, 7. Heung-Min Son. Subs: 25gk. Palop (not used), 4. Phillip Wollscheid (not used), 6. Simon Rolfes (for Son, 70), 13. Jens Hegeler (for Sam, 80), 14. Roberto Hilbert (not used), 15. Levin Öztunali (for Castro, 87), 23. Robbie Kruse (not used). Coach: Sami Hyypiä.
SC Freiburg (white/white/white): 1. Oliver Baumann, 3. Fallou Diagne, 25. Oliver Sorg, 28. Matthias Ginter, 17. Jonathan Schmid, 23. Julian Schuster (capt), 4. Gelson Fernandes, 11. Hendrick Zuck, 20. Francis Coquelin, 14. Admir Mehmedi, 9. Mike Hanke. Subs: 21gk. Alexander Schwolow (not used), 27. Nicolas Höfler (not used), 30. Christian Günter (for Zuck, 68), 31. K. Guédé (not used), 35. Sebastian Freis (for Mehmedi, 76), 37. Sebastian Kerk (for Coquelin, ht), 41. Immanuel Höhn (not used).
Referee: Gunter Perl.
Assistants: Georg Schalk and Michael Emmer.
Fourth Official: Bibiana Steinhaus.
Attendance: 27136
Duration: first half: 47:00; second-half: 47:58
Goals:
1-0 Stefan Kießling (21)
1-1 Mike Hanke (40)
2-1 Heung-Min Son (47)
3-1 Sidney Sam (52)
Cards:
Leverkusen: Stefan Reinartz (YC, 83), Emir Spahić (YC, 88)
Freiburg: Fallou Diagne (YC, 35), Mike Hanke (YC, 55)
