Sheraldo Becker was unstoppable on Saturday afternoon. The Union Berlin striker was the big man against SC Freiburg with two hits and an assist: 4-2. Becker was a real scourge for the visitors’ defence, with goalkeeper Mark Flek not making the best of an impression. Freiburg came back into the match with Vincenzo Grifo, but it was to no avail. Thanks to the victory, Union climbs to third place and is three points behind number five, Freiburg. Fourth-placed RB Leipzig has yet to come into action.
Union started the game stormy. Becker brought the ball to Kevin Behrens, who bounced back to the Amsterdammer. Becker in turn played back to Behrens, who beat a defender and finished well: 1-0. Union remained the better team, while Freiburg only came out in dribs and drabs. Ten minutes before the break, Union scored again. Again Becker set up the attack and after a short pass he got the ball excellently in the loop from Robin Knoche. Becker had plenty of space and passed Flikken through his legs: 2-0. The supporters were still cheering when Becker made his second of the afternoon. Again Knoche was the principal and this time Becker passed Fleks in the short corner: 3-0.
Sheraldo “????????????????????” Becker ????https://t.co/fh4R672cS0#ViaplaySportNL #ViaplayFootball #Spiderman pic.twitter.com/rZSxTZIlfr
— Viaplay Sport Netherlands (@viaplaysportnl) May 13, 2023
After the break, Freiburg came out a lot better, although the first chance came from András Schäfer. The Hungarian saw his handsome shot go a meter wide. Nevertheless, the visitors did not have to wait long for their goal, as Manuel Gulde headed a Grifo corner kick against the ropes in minute 56: 3-1. Freiburg got wings from that goal, started to turn on more and more and received a penalty twenty minutes before the end after a foul by Danilho Doekhi. Referee Marco Fritz pointed to the penalty spot and saw Grifo take advantage of the opportunity through a wonderful panenka: 3-2.
The visitors kept pushing and got the perfect opportunity to equalize ten minutes before the end. Rolland Sallai got the ball perfectly in front of his feet, but failed to lash out in one go: chance lost. It turned out to be an extremely expensive miss by the Hungarian. A minute later, Becker saw a sea of space in front of him and he lost to Aïssa Laïdouni, who scored his first goal in the Bundesliga: 4-2. Freiburg did not give up and came very close to scoring, but after a header hit the crossbar, Matthias Ginter saw his rebound on the line cleared by Morten Thorsby. Freiburg would come no closer.
| No. | Team | m | W | G | v | +/- | Pnt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bayern Munich | 32 | 20 | 8 | 4 | 55 | 68 |
| 2 | Borussia Dortmund | 31 | 20 | 4 | 7 | 33 | 64 |
| 3 | 1. FC Union Berlin | 32 | 17 | 8 | 7 | 14 | 59 |
| 4 | RB Leipzig | 31 | 17 | 6 | 8 | 18 | 57 |
| 5 | SC Freiburg | 32 | 16 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 56 |
| 6 | VfL Wolfsburg | 32 | 13 | 10 | 9 | 12 | 49 |
| 7 | Bayer Leverkusen | 31 | 14 | 6 | 11 | 11 | 48 |
| 8 | Eintracht Frankfurt | 32 | 12 | 10 | 10 | 5 | 46 |
| 9 | FSV Mainz 05 | 32 | 12 | 9 | 11 | 2 | 45 |
| 10 | 1. FC Cologne | 32 | 10 | 11 | 11 | -4 | 41 |
| 11 | Borussia Monchengladbach | 31 | 10 | 9 | 12 | -2 | 39 |
| 12 | Werder Bremen | 31 | 10 | 5 | 16 | -11 | 35 |
| 13 | FC Augsburg | 32 | 9 | 7 | 16 | -16 | 34 |
| 14 | TSG Hoffenheim | 32 | 9 | 5 | 18 | -11 | 32 |
| 15 | VfL Bochum | 32 | 9 | 4 | 19 | -35 | 31 |
| 16 | Schalke 04 | 32 | 7 | 9 | 16 | -34 | 30 |
| 17 | VfB Stuttgart | 31 | 6 | 10 | 15 | -15 | 28 |
| 18 | Hertha BSC | 32 | 6 | 7 | 19 | -28 | 25 |