Freiburg ride fortune to top table but Streich chooses to channel Ranieri

It took a bit of fortune but few, bar those of a Bayer Leverkusen persuasion, were complaining. Freiburg eventually came out on top in a five-goal thriller at BayArena on Saturday, a scenario that had looked a long way from likely at half-time. Their coach, Christian Streich, called it “a lucky win”, with characteristic frankness.

No matter. Freiburg go back into European competition this week on top of the Bundesliga. They’ve been there before only once before, after winning 4-0 against Stuttgart on the opening day of 2000-01, so whether you can even count that is open to debate. Streich said post-match that he’s not bothered about this doubtless fleeting moment on the top rung either. “I’m not interested in that,” he told Sky. “Everything is going well at the moment – so well that we are the luckier of the teams in some of these games.”

Nevertheless Ritsu Doan’s back-post winner from point-blank range sees his side at the summit on goal difference over Borussia Dortmund after five games, in a season which has already heard further talk of ways to make the Bundesliga a competitive title race after Bayern Munich’s ominous start of 15 goals in their three opening wins, this is worth celebrating.

For those of you hoping that coach and club are channelling their inner Leicester, Streich pushed the mind in that direction by going full Claudio Ranieri in his post-match press conference. Far from basking in a sunny early season spot, the coach talked about avoiding relegation being his top priority for the domestic season. “In a year in which we play in Europe, it’s about playing some games in the European competition and keeping Freiburg in the Bundesliga,” Streich said. “If that happens, it will have been a good year. And