SC Freiburg easily won its Europa League game at Olympiacos Piraeus. Michael Gregoritsch shone in the Greek cauldron with a brace.
Goals from Michael Gregoritsch (25th/53rd minute) and Nicolas Höfler (5th minute) and Nicolas Höfler (5th minute) brought SC Freiburg a sovereign and unchallenged 3-0 win against Olympiacos Piraeus. The Breisgauers thus take the lead in Group G.
As in the 2-1 win against the Azerbaijani representative Qarabag Agdam, SC Freiburg started with a lot of self-confidence and sometimes high pressing. The Breisgau team surprised the Greek home side in the first minute of the game. Vincenzo Grifo attacked the opposing defense aggressively, the surprised central defender Ousseynou Ba played the ball into the feet of SC attacker Daniel-Kofi Kyereh on the right corner of the penalty area. However, Piraeus keeper Tomas Vaclik was able to parry the inaccurate conclusion of the new signing from St. Pauli.
Perfect start for SC Freiburg in Piraeus
Nicolas Höfler aimed more precisely for just five minutes. The midfielder headed a half-field free-kick from Vincenzo Grifo into the far corner to give SC Freiburg a 1-0 lead. A made-to-measure debut. As a result, Freiburg dominated the game, Olympiacos Piraeus rarely made it in front of the Breisgau goal. Instead, Freiburg even had opportunities to increase to 2-0. However, Michael Gregoritsch only hit the outside of the post in the 13th minute and a short time later he was also denied by Vaclik (18′) and Kyereh (20′).
In the 23rd minute, the Streich-Elf finally rewarded themselves for their sovereign game up to that point. After a slight confusion in the Piraeus defense, Grifo put the ball through to Gregoritsch, who shot under the bar with full force. The well-deserved 2-0 for Freiburg. The Piraeus supporters acknowledged their team’s poor performance with a lot of pyrotechnics – referee Matej Jug from Slovenia then interrupted the game for around two minutes (30th).
Piraeus hardly comes to an end
It was only in the 38th minute that Olympiakos had their first real chance to score. However, Ui-Jo Hwang was denied by SC goalkeeper Marc Flekken from a tight angle. In direct return, the strong Vaclik parried against Ritsu Doan. So Freiburg went into the break 2-0.
The second half started like a mirror image of the first half. Freiburg pressed, not much came from Piraeus. Just seven minutes after the restart, Philipp Lienhart extended a cross into the six-yard box and found Gregoritsch there, who again overcame goalkeeper Vaclik from about five yards out and scored the 3-0.
Streich spares permanent staff
After the clear Freiburg lead, the game flattened out a bit. Piraeus couldn’t, Freiburg didn’t have to anymore and so the game rippled along without creating any real chances to score. Christian Streich was able to start resting his staff in the 60th minute of the game. In the 62nd minute, Jeong and Schade came on for Kyereh and Gregoritsch. Seven minutes later, Nils Petersen replaced Ritsu Doan.
In the 77th minute, Vincenzo Grifo could have made it 4-0 after another defensive mistake, but just missed. A minute later he left the field together with Kiliann Sildillia. They were replaced by Lukas Kübler and Yannik Keitel. The final quarter of an hour ended without any noteworthy scenes. In the end, SC Freiburg won in a sovereign and well-deserved way with 3:0.
Freiburg takes the lead in the standings
In the Group G parallel game, Qarabag Agdam defeated FC Nantes 3-0. As a result, SC Freiburg is in first place in the group after two games. On the third day of the game, Freiburg meets on October 6th. at 21:00 at home to FC Nantes.
