Freiburg’s Igor Matanovic (22) remains in the ascendancy with three goals in three starts | OneFootball

Though he understandably did not receive the GGFN Man-of-the-Match honor, SC Freiburg striker Igor Matanovic is unquestionably one of the big winners emerging from his side’s latest Bundesliga victory. After not starting at all this year, Matonovic has started three SCF fixtures on-the-bounce. Impressively, the 22-year-old international has scored the crucial goal in all three of the encounters. 

Matanovic arrived in Freiburg with great promise

Eintracht Frankfurt were not necessarily keen on letting the seven-times-capped Croatian international depart this summer. Accordingly, Matanovic’s former Bundesliga club made certain to build a buyback option into his Freiburg sale. The Hamburg-native did score a brace off the bench in Freiburg’s first victory of the season, but still didn’t manage to crack Julian Schuster’s starting XI until the turn of the 2026 calendar year. 

Prior to the matchday 18 fixture against Augsburg, Matanovic only started once for Freiburg in the opening round of the DFB Pokal. After going nearly the entire first half of the season without a Bundesliga start, the former German youth international entered the new year looking like one of the summer’s biggest transfer flops. The one-time St. Pauli academy man’s abilities were nevertheless never really in question. 

Matanovic evokes Horst Hrubesch comparisons

After scoring the equalizer in the 2-2 draw with Augsburg, Matanovic aided Freiburg’s Europa League campaign immensely with a dramatic late winner in a 1-0 victory over Maccabi Tel Aviv midweek. The emphatic headed finish led to Matanovic being compared to fellow Hamburg native and German heading legend Horst Hrubesch. 

Matanovic’s celebrity is only likely to increase after he once again scored what would prove the match-winner against Köln. The fact that he missed out on a chance to fully seal the victory with a miss from the penalty spot isn’t exactly what any player in the ascendancy needs, but it does seem likely that he will continue to get his chances. 

Schuster’s words on Matanovic

“Igor’s role hasn’t changed,” Schuster said after the Europa League victory. “He was just as present before as he is now. The difference is that he’s starting more. That’s because he’s working quite a bit harder and I really like that.“

GGFN | Peter Weis