SC Freiburg narrowly lost the semi-final first leg of the Europa League at Sporting Braga. The Breisgauers definitely need a win in the second leg in Freiburg.
SC Freiburg lost the UEFA Europa League semi-final first leg 2-1 at Portuguese club Sporting Braga. This means that coach Julian Schuster’s team has to win the second leg in Freiburg by two goals in order to make it to the Europa League final in Istanbul. If you win by one goal, extra time and, if necessary, a penalty shootout will decide. In a highly intense game, Vincenzo Grifo (16th minute) scored to equalize for the Sport-Club, while Demir Egne Tiknaz (8th) and Mario Dorgeles scored for the hosts (90th +2).
SC Freiburg equalizes Braga’s lead in a few minutes
The hosts started the game better at the Municipal Stadium in Braga. Striker Pau Victor scored the first goal for the Portuguese on an assist from playmaker Rodrigo Zalazar, but his ball went past the goal from a tight angle (4th). A little later the ball fidgeted in the Freiburg net. After a failed clearance by Johan Manzambi, Braga’s Victor Gomez found his teammate Demir Ege Tiknaz in the Freiburg penalty area, who poked the ball past SC keeper Noah Atubolu into the goal (8th).
Freiburg only now really registered in the game. A long-range shot from Manzambi went just over the hosts’ goal (11th). But with the next scene the sports club equalized. After Igor Matanvovic won the ball high, Niklas Beste and veteran Vincenzo Grifo ran alone towards the Portuguese goal. Beste passed at exactly the right moment to his Italian teammate, who remained ice-cold and pushed the ball past Braga’s goalkeeper Lukas Hornicek into the goal (16th).
Sporting Braga in Bad luck with injuries
Sporting Braga suffered their next setback in the 25th minute. Leading player Ricardo Horta had to be treated and then replaced injured after an injury that was not caused by the opponent. The Ivorian Mario Dorgeles replaced his captain.
Nevertheless, the hosts now acted more powerfully than Freiburg. Substitute captain Joao Moutinho tested Atubolu with a long-range shot, but the Freiburg goalkeeper was there and parried the ball safely (34′).
Atubolu saves Braga penalty strongly
Shortly before half-time, referee Anthony Taylor took center stage. The Englishman, who lacked a clear line for long stretches of the game, assessed a scene in the Freiburg penalty area between Freiburg’s Philipp Lienhart and Braga’s Gustaf Lagerbielke as worthy of a penalty based on video evidence. From Taylor’s perspective, Lienhart had pulled his opponent to the ground, but it was not clear from the pictures whether the contact was actually the cause of Lagerbielke’s fall – a tough decision by the referee.
Rodrigo Zalazar took the penalty and tried to beat Atubolu down the left. But Freiburg’s goalkeeper chose the right corner and saved the penalty (45th +2). Shortly afterwards, Taylor blew the whistle for half-time.
Second half dominated by the defense
The second half started without any further changes. Neither team created any clear scoring chances for the time being. SC defender Matthias Ginter stood out in the 49th minute with a strong tackle against the busy Zalazar in his own penalty area. On the other hand, Matanovic headed the ball past the goal from five meters after a corner (59th).
Five minutes later, Freiburg’s Maximilian Eggestein tried to put the sports club in the lead with a shot from a half-left position. But Hornicek held the ball without any problems (64′). Both teams now concentrated more on defense. The sports club defended with concentration and hardly allowed the Portuguese any scoring opportunities.
Braga lands the lucky punch
Shortly before the final whistle, Atubolu was beaten again in the Freiburg goal. Braga’s Vitor Carvalho shot at the Freiburg goal in the second minute of stoppage time, Atubolu let the ball bounce into the middle. Substitute Dorgeles was spot on and coolly scored the 2-1 winning goal for the Portuguese.
Thanks to the late winning goal for Braga, coach Julian Schuster’s team can now only make it to the final in the second leg in their own stadium with a win by two goals. Kick-off on Thursday is at 9 p.m. (May 7th, live in the audio stream on swr.de/sport). Before that, SC Freiburg meets VfL Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga on Sunday (May 3rd, 7:30 p.m., live in the audio stream on Sportschau.de).
More about SC Freiburg in the Europa League
