freiburg's baumann defies estoril published: thursday 7 november 2013, 22.50cet
estoril praia 0-0 sc freiburg
a fine showing from goalkeeper oliver baumann – and some wayward estoril finishing – allowed nine-man freiburg to salvage a point in group h.
by pedro gonçalves from estadio antónio coimbra da mota
estoril praia and sc freiburg are still on the lookout for a first win in uefa europa league group h, with a goalless draw all the home side had to show for a positive performance in portugal.
visiting goalkeeper oliver baumann produced a string of fine saves to stifle estoril's attacking ambitions, but marco silva's side were also left to curse some wayward finishing as a draw kept both sides in the bottom two. freiburg's nicolas höfler and karim guédé were both sent off in the closing stages, but estoril were unable to press their advantage.
the pattern was set after 13 minutes when luís leal got away from his marker and ran in on goal, on for his shot to be deflected away from its target by baumann's left leg. freiburg responded with a vladimír darida free-kick, which did not trouble vagner unduly. leal then sent a shot wide from distance, but estoril were given a scare just before the break, vagner making a desperate intervention to stop nicolai lorenzoni's cross reaching höfler.
estoril recovered, but were thwarted again and again in the second half. baumann saved from sebá's powerful header, and then denied ruben fernandes from close range, while carlitos hit the crossbar from the resulting corner. freiburg kept riding their luck, with sebá given time and space to steady himself before firing a shot too high on 64 minutes.
substitutes admir mehmedi and sebastian freis helped to give christian streich's side some forward momentum later on, but estoril kept plugging on; joão pedro galvão came on after 81 minutes and drew another brilliant save from baumann. höfler and guédé both saw red for second bookable offences, but estoril's chance of three points ultimately went begging.
