Hamburg secures vital draw against Freiburg

Gojko Kacar's late equaliser snatched Hamburg crucial points in the relegation battle against Freiburg at the curtain raiser of the 32nd round of the Bundesliga here.

Relegation threatened Freiburg squandered the chance to wrap up three points on the road as Hamburg restored parity in the dying minutes of the game to punish wasteful visitors from the south on Friday. Despite the share of points, both sides remain in touching distance to Bundesliga drop-zone with only two games remaining in the season, reports Xinhua.

After four consecutive winless games, Freiburg took reins against unimaginative hosts, who tried to force their luck with long-range efforts. However, the visitors worked out the first noteworthy chance when Felix Klaus missed to tap in a deflected ball from inside the box with only Hamburg goalkeeper Rene Adler to beat (18th minute).

At the other end of the pitch, Freiburg goalkeeper Roman Buerki denied Hamburg the opener as Buerki's foot reflex defused Zoltan Stieber's deflected shot moments later. The subsequent goal-kick by Freiburg keeper proved to be crucial as Karim Guede flicked on, heading into the path of Admir Mehmedi, who hammered home the opener into the near post corner (24th).

Freiburg failed to make the game safe after the restart as neither Mehemdi nor Vladimir Darida were able to threaten Hamburg goalkeeper Rene Adler. As a consequence, Hamburg punished the visitors for their poor chance conversion when Gojko Kacar headed home a corner to seal a 1-1 draw on home soil (90th).

With the draw, Hamburg remain on 14th place with 32 points while Freiburg climbed from 16th to 15th with 31 points.