Following their 4:3 win over SC Freiburg II, third-division club Rot-Weiss Essen continue with an English week.

“In the third division, it doesn’t matter whether you’re playing against the league leaders or the bottom team.” Christoph Dabrowski said this at the press conference before Rot-Weiss Essen’s home match against SC Freiburg U23.

And the RWE head coach was proved right: Although the home side won 4:3 (1:2) in a dramatic match in front of 14,527 fans, Freiburg’s U23s demanded everything from Dabrowski’s team and even led 3:2 until the 89th minute. The ninth home win of the season was well deserved, but a hard piece of work against effective visitors from Breisgau.

The three-pointer not only extended RWE’s strong home record (29 points after 13 games), but also their flawless statistics against SC Freiburg II. Essen have won all four games against the young SCF reserve team since promotion in 2022 (11:3 goals).

And that despite Freiburg finishing runners-up last year. Somehow, the team bottom of the table seems to be a kind of “favorite opponent” for the Red-Whites. RWE have not had such a record against any other opponent since their return to the third division

The Dabrowski squad will now continue with an English week. First up on Tuesday evening (6 February, 7 p.m.) is the clash with 1860 Munich and former coach Argirios Giannikis. It is the make-up match for the game that was canceled at the beginning of December. Just four days later (February 10, 2 p.m.), RWE will host relegated second-division side and league leaders SSV Jahn Regensburg.

After three narrow 2:1 away defeats recently, the team in fifth place in the table would like to finally get something tangible away from home – preferably on Tuesday at the “Löwen”. “We’re looking forward to it, of course. Matches against 1860 Munich, whether at home or away, are always great,” said central defender José-Enrique Ríos Alonso, looking ahead.