The American Chris Richards gave TSG 1899 Hoffenheim a last-minute victory in the Baden duel at SC Freiburg.
The defender headed on Saturday in the 94th minute to 2: 1 (1: 1) of the guests.
The team of coach Sebastian Hoeneß won the fourth game in a row and displaced Christian Streich's team from fourth place in the Bundesliga.
Streich was also annoyed that the decisive goal was preceded by a corner kick for Hoffenheim and no free kick for Freiburg after a controversial situation at Lucas Höler.
National players David Raum with his first goal in the upper house for Hoffenheim (3rd minute) and Nico Schlotterbeck for Freiburg (21st) met only 750 spectators in the Europa-Park Stadium due to the corona. The former Freiburg goalkeeper Oliver Baumann saved the Kraichgauer success with a saved penalty against the former Hoffenheim Vincenzo Grifo (62nd minute). Streich missed his 100th victory as head coach of the sports club.
A week after their 6-0 coup in Mönchengladbach, the SC professionals initially came under a lot of pressure. The guests played precisely and with a good feel for the gaps. This allowed Raum to sprint through on the left and then prove with a shot from an acute angle into the net that he used to be a striker. But then the standard specialists from Freiburg struck around the former Hoffenheim Grifo. Schlotterbeck headed his corner to equalize. It was already the 14th goal of the SC this season by a standard. Kevin Schade almost turned the game around shortly afterwards when he failed to Baumann.
The people of Hoffenheim searched for and found Andrej Kramaric again and again. The recently ailing Croat started the team for the first time after the international break. It was his 200th competitive game for Hoffenheim. On the Freiburg side, national player Christian Günter even played his 250th first division encounter for Freiburg. The captain initially had a difficult time against Kevin Akpoguma on the left wing. In addition, veteran Kevin Vogt kept the Hoffenheim defense together with a lot of overview.
With the inclusion of storm talent Georginio Rutter after just under an hour, TSG coach Sebastian Hoeneß hoped for more punch.
But Hoffenheim first had to thank Baumann: The 31-year-old, who this week extended his contract until 2024, parried Grifo's penalty.
Akpoguma had previously fouled Günter.
A scene in the 70th minute caused a stir: Schlotterbeck cleared the ball and the bullet-ready rutter with a tackle and injured himself in the process.
Substitute Christoph Baumgartner drove the Hoffenheim team to a lively final sprint and missed the chance to score the winning goal before Richards headed to the late 2-1.