SC Freiburg has to be content with a point against Viktoria Plzen in the Europa League. Nevertheless, the Breisgauer team took a big step towards the round of 16.
SC Freiburg has to be content with a point against Viktoria Plzen in the Europa League. Nevertheless, the Breisgauer team took a big step towards the round of 16.
Noah Atubolu was the man of the match. The 23-year-old saved SC Freiburg from a 0-0 draw against Viktoria Pilsen with several saves. This means both remain unbeaten in the Europa League. It was an important step towards the round of 16 for the Breisgauer team, as they are now in third place with eleven points. Pilsen is in eighth place with nine points.
At the beginning, SC Freiburg had big problems defending themselves against Viktoria Pilsen’s high pressing. The result: bumpy game build-up, lots of ball losses and few offensive actions. Nevertheless, the Freiburg team managed to create opportunities at certain points. Junior Adamu only hit the side netting after a long throw-in from Philipp Lienhart (18th) and was denied by goalkeeper Florian Wiegele a few minutes later (25th).
Freiburg suddenly under pressure
Pilsen barely had a chance in the first half hour. But then Freiburg suddenly brought the Czechs into the game: Lienhart tried to clear in his own penalty area, but hit Christian Günter in the back. The ball bounced to Cheick Souaré. But Noah Atubolu was just able to deflect his shot from a tight angle into a corner (36′). The following corner landed again at Souaré, whose volley from 17 meters wiped Atubolu over the crossbar (37th). “We were in the game quite well until the 30th minute, often solved things well in terms of football and had our chances. After that it was negligent,” summed up Atubolu.
After the third corner in three minutes, Freiburg’s keeper had no chance: center forward Rafiu Durosinmi headed the ball over the line from close range (38′). Luckily for Freiburg, Prince Kwabena Adu was offside right in front of Atubolu – the goal didn’t count. Because Atubolu fended off Matej Vydra’s header shortly before the break (42nd) and was also there for Adu’s shot from seven meters, SC Freiburg took the lucky 0-0 into the break.
Atubolu holds the point
In the second half, SC Freiburg had the game better under control and was at least able to keep Pilsen out of their own penalty area. The Czechs’ long-range shots were still tough. Atubolu was able to fish Amar Memic’s shot from around 20 meters out of the corner (58th), Souaré’s shot went just wide of the goal (60th) and just a minute later Memic tried it from the edge of the penalty area. But this time too the ball whizzed past the Freiburg goal.
Freiburg continued to struggle on offense. And if something did work, the Freiburg team failed because of their own hectic pace. Igor Matanovic shot Pilsen keeper Florian Wiegele from eleven meters straight into the arms of Pilsen (53′). Johann Manzambi did it a little better. But Wiegele was also able to direct his shot onto the post (74th). So it ended up being a fair 0-0, with which SC Freiburg can live much better than Pilsen. “It was really disgusting,” Atubolu said. “They didn’t make it easy for us and they’re doing well. We always want more, we could have done more. But in the end we have to be satisfied.”
Broadcast on Thursday, November 27th, 2025, 6:45 p.m., SWR.de/sport: “Live in the audio stream: Freiburg against Pilsen and Mainz against Craiova”
Broadcast on Thursday, November 27th, 2025, 8:53 p.m., SWR.de/sport: “Freiburg takes a step towards the round of 16 in Pilsen”
