SC Freiburg has used its first match point and is early in the round of 16 of the Europa League.
The team of coach Christian Streich got a late 1: 1 (0: 1) against the Greek champions Olympiacos Piraeus and is now the winner of Group G – the parallel game also helped: Chaser Qarabag Agdam lost at FC Nantes with 1: 2 (0:1) and could not build up any more pressure.
Lukas Kübler (90′ + 3′) equalized for Freiburg, captain Youssef El-Arabi (17′) scored for Piraeus in front of 33,600 spectators in the once again atmospheric Freiburg stadium. Piraeus’ Ousseynou Ba also had to leave the field late with yellow-red (90+5). At the end of the group phase, Freiburg will visit Qarabag Agdam next Thursday.
“Olympiakos did a great job, especially in the first half,” said goal scorer Kübler on “RTL”: “In the second we found the space. In the end, a standard has to be used – I’m glad I scored and was able to help the team.”
SC Freiburg rewarded late
The SC had taken the initiative directly and tried to come up with offensive actions, especially via the outside players Vincenzo Grifo and Ritsu Doan. At first, however, without emitting any serious danger.
The hosts gave the Greeks little breathing room in the early stages – and yet they fell behind when Olympiacos had their first real chance to score. After Mark Flekken parried a first attempt, El-Arabi hit the ball with a dust collector (17th). A little later Freiburg were extremely lucky when Giorgos Masouras only hit the side netting from close range (23′). As a result, Freiburg lost a bit of the thread, while Olympiakos caused danger, especially with quick switching moments (35th).
The picture was initially the same after the break, but Freiburg created more chances to score over time. First Nicolas Höfler narrowly missed after a corner (58th). Only a minute later Lukas Kübler failed with the best chance to date to Alexandros Paschalakis. The Breisgauer now kept the trigger – and were rewarded.