SC Freiburg are back up to third in the Bundesliga after Yuito Suzuki inspired a patient 2-0 win over Union Berlin at Europa-Park Stadion — an own goal from Rani Khedira and Suzuki's delicate chip settling a match the hosts controlled for long spells.
Freiburg had to wait for their reward. As the Bundesliga match report detailed, Julian Schuster's side started brighter, went close early through Igor Matanovic and Derry Scherhant, and then found Union goalkeeper Frederik Ronnow in inspired form before the break.
Ronnow denied Suzuki's low effort and tipped a close-range Matanovic header around the post, while Union failed to register a single shot before half-time yet somehow went in level.
Suzuki breaks Union's resistance
Union boss Mauro Lustrinelli sent on Woo-yeong Jeong and Oliver Burke at the break, but Freiburg kept coming. The breakthrough arrived shortly before the hour: Suzuki fed Niklas Beste, whose low cross was turned into his own net by Union captain Rani Khedira.
Twelve minutes later the game was settled in style. Scherhant won the ball and played a precise through ball for Yuito Suzuki, who went around Ronnow and lifted a delicate chip into the net — a finish of real composure, and no more than the Japan international deserved.
Suzuki was named Man of the Match with 44 percent of the vote after being involved in both goals. Freiburg could even afford a missed penalty late on, Vincenzo Grifo seeing his spot-kick pushed onto the post by Ronnow after Andras Schafer had fouled substitute Keisuke Goto, before Ronnow denied Lucas Holer from close range.
There was a milestone, too, for Matthias Ginter, who made his 200th Bundesliga appearance for Freiburg on the day. The match facts underlined the dominance: Freiburg's xGoals read 2.54 to Union's 0.73.
The win follows Thursday's Conference League success at Trabzonspor, Freiburg's fourth straight victory in all competitions.
So what does it mean?
Freiburg sit third on 19 points from nine games, just two points behind leaders Bayern Munich — and, as Reuters noted, this club have never finished higher than third in their history. Their best season came in 1994-95 under Volker Finke, and they have finished in the top seven in four of the last five seasons.
The difference this year is goals. Freiburg have scored 20 in nine league games, an average of 2.22 per game, up from 1.50 last term — only Bayern, on 29, and RB Leipzig, on 27, have scored more. Schuster, now in his third season after being appointed in July 2024, is seeing his ideas fully bed in.
"We had to be very patient and yet we remained very confident," Schuster said. "We didn't have many opportunities, but we allowed very little ourselves."
Freiburg travel to promoted Elversberg after the international break. Union, meanwhile, slip away pointless after their four-game unbeaten run ended — and with Leverkusen also winning the Rhine derby at Koln earlier on Sunday, the race for the European places behind Bayern is tightening fast.
Beyond the Final Whistle: Freiburg are no longer a nice story — they are a genuine top-three side playing patient, front-foot football, and Suzuki is becoming the face of it. The question is no longer whether they can beat the Bundesliga's strugglers, but whether they can hold this pace when Bayern and Leipzig come calling.
Can Freiburg really finish in the top three this season — or will the bigger squads reel them in after the break? Let us know in the comments.
