SC Freiburg lost to West Ham United in the Europa League and has to serve “detention” in the second round as second in the group.
Freiburg’s dream of winning the group and the associated direct entry into the round of 16 of the Europa League burst just as quickly as the bubbles in West Ham’s legendary club anthem. Mohammed Kudus (14th) and Edson Alvarez (41st) scored for the Hammers and sent Freiburg into the second round with a 2-0 defeat.
Freiburg defense without access
Freiburg started cautiously and were lucky when Lucas Paqueta hit the crossbar with his hammer from the edge of the penalty area after less than five minutes. Less than ten minutes later, the Freiburg defense was badly surprised. After a simple lob, Kudus stood completely alone in front of Noah Atubolu. But the 21-year-old couldn’t prevent the Ghanaian from scoring (14′). Shortly before the break, the Freiburg defense was overcome by Edson Alvarez and Jarrod Bowen with a simple one-two. The Mexican was able to calmly push in (42′).
Ritsu Doan was the only Freiburger who shot on goal – rather half-heartedly – in the first half. The approximately 3,500 Freiburg fans who traveled with us certainly imagined it differently.
Around 3,500 fans accompanied SC Freiburg to the away game against West Ham United in the Europa League.
Freiburg with few chances
SC Freiburg also let West Ham play in the second half. Atubolu saved against Emerson (48′), Bowen came a step too late after a pass from Czech Vladimir Coufal (52′), and Kudus shot the ball a few centimeters wide of the goal (54′). West Ham United’s defense around former Stuttgart player Konstantinos Mavropanos had little to do. West Ham keeper Lukasz Fabianski only had to intervene once, but had no problems with substitute Merlin Rühl’s shot.
After that the game petered out. West Ham played without really being a goal threat and rested some of their regular players from the 52nd minute onwards. In this phase, Freiburg had the best opportunity of the game. Doan flicked the ball to the far post and Fabianski had to stretch to fish the ball out of the bottom left corner (75′). That’s why we ended up with a flattering 2-0 defeat in the last group game of the Europa League.
Strong opponents await in the intermediate round
SC Freiburg remains in second place in Group H with twelve points and has to fight for a place in the round of 16 in the knockout round play-offs against one of the Champions League relegated teams in February.
The opponent will be drawn next Monday (December 18th) from 1 p.m. in Nyon. The third-placed group from the Champions League: Galatasaray, RC Lens, Sporting Braga, Benfica Lisbon, Feyenoord Rotterdam, AC Milan, Young Boys Bern and
Shakhtar Donetsk
Broadcast on Friday, December 15, 2023, 5:00 a.m., Good Morning Baden-Württemberg, SWR1 Baden-Württemberg
