Maximilian Eggestein's rebound strike gives Freiburg a 1-0 win at promoted Paderborn

SC Paderborn 07 were back in the Bundesliga at home for the first time in six years, and for long stretches they made life uncomfortable for SC Freiburg, but a single goal from Maximilian Eggestein was enough to send Julian Schuster's side back down the A33 with all three points. The visitors made it two wins from two on Matchday 2, a 1-0 result at the Home Deluxe Arena that arrived on the back of a week in which Freiburg had also gone through in the UEFA Conference League qualifiers and the DFB-Pokal.

A goal born from a rebound

The game was level and lively into the midway point of the first half — Marvin Pieringer had forced an early save out of Mio Backhaus inside two minutes, and Nahuel Noll had already denied Igor Matanović more than once at the other end. The breakthrough came in the 26th minute: Derry Scherhant's low cross from the left caused confusion in the box, Eggestein's first effort was saved, Yannik Engelhardt's follow-up was blocked, and the loose ball fell back to Eggestein, who made no mistake at the second attempt, side-footing home from close range. Freiburg pushed for a second before the break — Matanović was denied again by a fine Noll stop on a volley — but 1-0 was the score at half-time.

Paderborn head coach Ralf Kettemann sent on Steffen Tigges for Rayan Philippe at the interval, and the hosts came out with more urgency: Backhaus made a crucial save to deny Pieringer in a one-on-one shortly after the restart, Tigges twice went close, and Laurin Ulrich fired narrowly wide from the edge of the box. Santiago Castañeda had an acrobatic effort late on, but Freiburg's defence held, and Eggestein's 26th-minute strike proved the difference.

Line-ups

• SC Paderborn 07 (3-5-2): Noll — Scheller, Hansen, Horst — Vidović, Ulrich, Castañeda, Obermair, Curda — Pieringer, Philippe (Tigges 45')

• SC Freiburg (4-2-3-1): Backhaus — Lienhart, Ginter, Makengo, Treu — Suzuki, Engelhardt, Eggestein — Matanović, Scherhant, Beste

Three players were booked on each side and neither team had anyone sent off: Laurin Curda (38'), Jano ter Horst (48') and Tjark Scheller (90+3') for Paderborn; Yuito Suzuki (43'), Philipp Lienhart (56') and Yannik Engelhardt (59') for Freiburg.

The numbers behind a tight scoreline

The expected-goals gap tells the story better than the bare scoreline: Bundesliga's own match-facts data had Eggestein's finish as the lowest-probability chance of the goal, just a 14 percent conversion likelihood, credit to Freiburg for finding a way to make it count. Eggestein was named Man of the Match with 62 percent of the fan vote, adding to his goal a spell of defensive work that saw him escape ten pressing situations at a 70 percent success rate.

Two very different starts to the season

The result kept Freiburg's start spotless. After opening with a 4-1 win over Werder Bremen, Schuster's side made it three straight Bundesliga victories with a 5-0 rout of Borussia Mönchengladbach on Matchday 3, a run that carried them to the top of the table before their first dropped points, a 2-2 draw at Eintracht Frankfurt on Matchday 4. Paderborn's own record went the other way before it turned: after this defeat followed a 0-3 loss at Borussia Dortmund on Matchday 3, leaving the promoted side without a win from their first three matches, before Tigges scored twice in a first Bundesliga win of the campaign, 3-1 at home to Hoffenheim on Matchday 4.