The visitors almost made the perfect start to the match as Yan Diomande’s superb run put the Ivory Coast international in a great position with only three minutes on the clock. However, his end product was disappointing, and he could only prod his close-range effort straight at Noah Atubolu.
Freiburg gradually grew into the game and ended up taking the lead shortly after the midway point of the first half, when Jan-Niklas Beste reacted quickest to slot the ball home after Matthias Ginter’s initial header struck the bar.
Leipzig’s situation suddenly went from bad to worse, as Igor Matanović’s superb header to meet Johan Manzambi’s right-wing delivery doubled the Breisgau-Brasilianer’s advantage just two minutes later.
Ole Werner’s side didn’t feel sorry for themselves, though, and managed to quickly halve the deficit after 33 minutes when Assan Ouédraogo drilled the ball into the bottom corner from 20 yards out for his fourth league goal of the season.
The hosts flew out of the blocks for the start of the second half and duly restored their two-goal cushion, thanks to Ginter’s composed close-range finish aided by some dismal Leipzig defending just two minutes after the restart.
This really seemed to deflate the visitors, and the tempo of the contest notably dropped from both sides.
That didn’t stop Freiburg from wrapping up the game in style, though. With a quarter of an hour remaining, Matanović teed up Derry Scherhant perfectly and he made no mistake to rifle the ball past Péter Gulácsi from inside the box and ensure Freiburg ended the Bundesliga term in style.
Freiburg must now switch their attention to Wednesday evening in Istanbul for, arguably, the biggest match in the club’s history versus Villa.
Meanwhile, Leipzig finish the league season in third position and can look forward to competing in next season’s UEFA Champions League.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Igor Matanović (SC Freiburg)